All Over Again
by KaydenceRei
Summary: S6. Everything's started all over again after the bomb blows. The plane crashed, Juliet is with the others. But Sawyer is starting to remember, because he can't forget those blue eyes. He can't forget that he's loved and lost, and it hasn't even happened.
1. The Reset

**Author's Note**: Here's my newest story! Just one of the multiple ways season 6 could go, but I'm doing it my way! (Main plot idea goes to **GencoOliveOil**)

**All Over Again**: Prologue

**=FLASHBACK=**

_"Don't you leave me!" he yelled again, and once more felt her slipping and tried to hold on tighter. "You hold on!!" he screamed out._

_"I love you!" she cried out, her eyes filling with tears once again._

_"No! You don't let go!"_

_"I love you, James!!"_

_"No!"_

_"I love you so much!"_

_"No don't let--go!!" he yelled out, hearing her scream, feeling her hand slip, feeling her gone. "NO!" he yelled out, the last thing he saw was her tear-filled blue eyes. "JULIET!"_

_Those damned blue eyes.. it was all he could think as he was pulled away from her final resting place. It was all he could think as the blinding flash of light came over them. Those bleary-eyed pools of ice that had melted over the years, that had melted the void in his heart and filled it, only to leave it empty again._

**=END FB=**

When Sawyer opened his eyes, the last thing remembered was a flash of light. Now he could hear people screaming all around him and he looked around. He swore, something didn't seem right. A plane, he'd been on a plane hadn't he? His head was spinning in circles, this didn't make sense. Blue eyes. Why was he thinking about blue eyes?

He shook his head and watched all the people running frantic around him, screaming, crying. The plane was on the beach, things were on fire, what the hell was going on?

Cons, women, LAX, blue eyes, bombs, bombs? Why was he thinking about bombs?

Perhaps because the plane had crashed. It made him think of a bomb. That would explain it. But nothing explained the blue eyes. He shook his head. He was going to chalk all of this up to either a really weird dream, or some serious post-traumatic stress.

Sawyer simply groaned, leaning back into the sand of the beach and covering his face with his hands. Nothing was making sense. He didn't bother to get up, to help all those frantic people running wild on the beach. He was too busy trying to sort things out in his head. Something just wasn't right, and those blue eyes were haunting him.

~*~*~*~

Blue eyes opened, and Juliet Burke found herself staring into a mirror, straight into her own icey eyes. She listened, as the CD she'd placed in the disc player started up and she tilted her head side to side slowly with the beat. Her entire body was aching, she was feeling dizzy. Something just wasn't right.

_"When you're alone and life is making you lonely, you can always go, down-town.."_

Juliet gripped the stand below the mirror hard as she felt the tears well up in her eyes. She sucked in a deep breath, held it for a moment and let it out, letting the rest of the words of the song simply mellow her out as she always did. It had been the strangest thing, that dream she'd had. And it had seemed so realistic when she'd died.

Self-consciously she lifted up her shirt and glanced down at her stomach. Was she hallucinating? She was seeing ghastly bruising in the shape of chain links all around her waist. She dropped her shirt back down and quickly ran her fingers through her hair. She knew this island was strange, but for her dream bruising to actually show up? She was positive that was beyond the brink of normality, even for this place.

She frowned, lifting her shirt once more to look, and found nothing. "What the.."

She shook her head. The dream was such a blur. She couldn't remember so much of it. The faces of the people helping her, she had never seen them. She had no idea who they were, who she was telling she loved. What was the person's name she'd been shouting to? She sighed, going towards the bedroom. It was just a dream.. an extremely vivid dream. and she had no time to keep thinking about it. Everyone was coming to her house today, and she had to get ready for them.

~*~*~*~

Juliet flinched slightly as Amelia put some burn cream on her hand. Originally she was going to show her Ben's X-Rays, but for some reason she got the strange sense it wouldn't matter if she tried. She knew she wouldn't get the chance.

She sighed. It was all because of that stupid dream, and she couldn't deny it. It was leaving her completely and utterly distracted. Not to mention Ben's X-Rays. She'd had a fight with him over it, and she'd pushed further then she ever had before. And now that everything was more screwed up then usual, she had to start having screwed up dreams of her own death.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Amelia questioned as she put the cap back on the cream. "You don't seem your usual self.."

Juliet glanced up into the older woman's eyes and smiled at her a little. "I'm just tired," she lied. "Didn't sleep well last night."

Amelia allowed her gaze to worry a little more. "Have you.."

"If you ask if I've talked to Harper about this.. I swear.."

Amelia smiled.

Juliet chuckled a little at her own reaction. "You did that on purpose," she noted to the older woman.

"Sometimes it feels better to talk about someone you don't like," Amelia teased.

Juliet laughed now.

~*~*~*~

They were in the middle of their usual book club. Amelia had been mildly amused as Juliet took her frustrations out on the members of the book club, and Juliet noticed it. But at least it was making her feel a bit better. And it wasn't until all the shaking that the worry came back to her mind, as she ushered people into doorways.

When it stopped, they had all rushed from her house, along with everyone else in their little community. She looked up, watching as Goodwin came from his and Harper's house. Why did she get the strange sense of dread that she was never going to see him again?

She shook it off, as she glanced up with everyone else, watching a plane fly over them. She watched, with a sort of startled de-ja-vu as the plane split apart, falling onto different areas of the island. And she watched, barely listening to Ben's orders as he sent Goodwin off, and then Ethan. And after locking knowing eyes with Harper, she met Ben's gaze as he came over to her and eyed the book cradled in her arms.

"So.." Ben said. "Guess I'm out of the book club.."

**This was just the teaser! Heartland has only a few chapters left, then this is the next story! So just wait, in a few days, this story will be on, full-fledged. (But I may randomly update it again anyways while doing Heartland as well!)**


	2. Day One, Juliet

**Author's Note**: This story will be pretty much.. back and forth. One chapter will mostly concentrate on Juliet, while the next one will most likely concentrate on Sawyer. At least until a little later on.

Again, my apologies for this being so long. I spent quite a while in the hospital due to an accident. I've been home for a few weeks now, but only a few days ago did I get back into writing.

For **GencoOliveOil**. Thank you for getting my back on track.

**All Over Again**: _Day one, Juliet_

Juliet eyed Ben when he told her he needed her to come with him. She sighed, and nodded. And felt a strange sensation come over her.

_Rachel and her son playing on a playground on a monitor. Ben took her to Mikhail._

She shook her head and frowned, then stopped walking. "Where are we going Ben?" she asked suddenly.

Ben looked at her and tilted his head. "Yesterday you called me a liar, Juliet.." he told her. "I.."

"You're taking me to see Mikhail.."

Ben stared at her, suddenly confused, although he hid it well. "Are you alright, Juliet?" he questioned. "You look pale.."

Juliet frowned, the dream coming back to her that she woke up from this morning. She dropped the copy of Carrie that she had in her arms and put her hand to her head, trying to shake it off.

"_Don't you leave me!_"

Juliet felt dizzy now, and she took a couple breaths as Ben helped her sit down in the grass.

"Juliet?" Ben questioned carefully, ignoring the looks of people coming towards them.

"_JULIET!! JULIET NO!_"

Juliet sucked in a breath, trying to shake it all off.. trying to get the dream out of her head again. But instead she just felt stuck within it, as though it were really happening, or had really happened. "I'm fine.." she muttered.

Ben studied her, unsure.

Juliet was trying to clear her mind of it still. She wasn't seeing Ben, the barracks, and though she knew she was really looking up at Ben, all she could see was a man she didn't recognize, a man about to let himself die with her.. "No..." she whispered.

Ben arched an eyebrow up at her in response.

"She talking to herself?" Tom asked in confusion. "Maybe you shoulda' let her go home. I think Julie's losing her marbles.."

Ben glared at him. Perhaps that was what she was trying to to. Force him into sending her home. He shook his head grabbing her hand. "I'm not letting you go, Juliet.."

Harper came over now, as Tom asked her to and she stared at the woman she wasn't at all fond of. But there was something in Juliet's eyes the showed her, whatever was going on, whatever she was seeing, was real. She thought it was really happening.

Ben glanced at Harper. "Is she faking this?"

Harper shook her head, kneeling down in front of her. "No.." she stated carefully. "No.. whatever she thinks she sees.. she thinks its really happening.. maybe its something that _has_ happened. I won't know until its over and I can talk to her.."

"When will that happen?" Ben questioned now, suddenly very cautious about what was going on.

Harper sighed. "It could be over in a minute.. or.. a day. I can't tell you for certain."

Ben frowned, but even more so as Juliet let out a screech of pain that was so horrifying he nearly jumped back. And when he glanced at her hands, they were bleeding. "What the.."

Everyone froze and stared at Juliet now. She appeared to simply be looking straight through all of them, as if none of them existed.

"Where is Richard?!" Ben called out immediately.

"Right here," Richard answered, coming towards them. He frowned, staring at Juliet. He couldn't say he forgot her, that what happened to her was simply erased from his mind because it wasn't. He remembered it all clearly. By all accounts, if Jacob hadn't explained this to him, it never would have made sense to him.

Ben eyed him. "What's happening to her Richard?" he questioned the man immediately.

Richard sighed, studying Juliet with curiosity that he did.. and in a sense, did not have. There were some things Ben did and did not need to know. He supposed vaguely explaining this would be the only appropriate thing to do at the moment though. "She's dying," he stated.

Ben, Harper and Tom all shot him looks of disbelief.

Richard sighed. "Not _really_ dying," he told them all. "But she thinks she is.."

"What in the world would make her think she was dying?" Ben questioned, noticing Juliet let go of his arm with one of hers, and she was painfully clenching her waist with it.

"It's okay.." she whispered suddenly.

Ben stared at her in confusion. She was looking past him, so he glanced back but saw nobody. Who did she think she was talking to? "Yes Juliet, it's all okay."

Richard frowned. He thought they had all died during the explosion of the hydrogen bomb.. but apparently he was wrong. Apparently.. it brought them back to, in Jacob's words.. the beginning. "She thinks that.. Ben," he told him. "Because it already happened. She's not telling you _she's_ okay, she's telling you it's okay to let her go.. to drop her."

Ben stared at him incredulously. "Drop her?!"

Richard hoped Juliet didn't continue outwardly expressing the memory of her death. If she did, Ben wasn't going to be happy about what she would say next. He would have to snap her out of it before she spoke too much. "Juliet," he stated loudly.

Nothing. Only tears.

"Juliet, snap out of it," he told her, before smacking her lightly across the face.

Juliet froze, coughed, and spit blood onto the ground in front of them before she wrenched her hand away from Ben's to stare at the bleeding.

"My God.." Harper stated, staring at the look of shock on Juliet's face, then down at her hands covered in blood.

Juliet ignored everyone, before lifting her shirt slightly and looking down at the chain marks around her waist. Her breath hitched and she dropped her shirt, it was the same as this morning.. only she had no idea what the hell had even just happened.

Harper and Tom looked slightly horrified at the ghastly marks.

Ben seemed to have virtually no reaction to it.

Richard took her hand in his and helped her to her feet. "Relax, Juliet.." he told her. "It'll all go away in a moment.."

Juliet stared at Richard with uncertainty.

"Take a deep breath, close yours eyes and relax, Juliet.." he told her carefully.

Juliet listened. She closed her eyes, evened out her breathing and let it all fade.

"_What we had, it was just for a little while. And just because we love each other doesn't mean that we're _meant_ to be together.. in fact, maybe we were never supposed to be together.._"

Juliet's eyes shot open and she looked around to see everything was gone. She frowned. No blood, no wounds.. nothing. That was her own voice she'd just heard, preaching her mother's words to somebody. But she hated her mother for telling her those words as a child, she swore to never repeat them. Why in the world what she ever do it?

She was beginning to believe she was losing her mind now. She was beginning to fear this island was _finally_ driving her to the brink of insanity. And suddenly when she closed her eyes, took another breath, everything faded.

"Juliet?" Tom questioned, staring at her with uncertainty.

Juliet opened her eyes and glanced around at everyone with slight confusion. "What are all of you staring at?" she asked curiously, watching as their faces were mixed with something between shock and confusion.

Richard hesitated for a moment. When Jacob explained Juliet would vividly recount the memories of her death, he excluded to mention she would _forget_ them not soon afterwards. "You have no idea what just happened?" he asked her.

Juliet thought back. "A plane crashed?" she asked, the confusion evident.

All four, Ben, Richard, Tom and Harper all shared a glance between each other.

"What am I missing?" she asked out of frustration.

Richard simply shook his head at them all.

"Nothing," Ben answered at Richard's shake of the head. "I need you to come with me Juliet, there's something I need to show you."

Juliet eyed him curiously. "Where are we going?" she asked him. She glanced down at her book on the ground and leaned over, picking it up.

Ben could only be frustrated. Had she forgotten already? She had known before that they were going to see Mikhail.

"Ben.." Harper stated. "I think it would be best if I talked with Juliet first.."

Ben eyed her angrily. "Not now," he warned her. "Come with me, Juliet."

Juliet's eyebrows arched in response, but she said nothing to him. She simply followed him as he began walking.

~*~*~*~

**Never fear. This story will be up-to-date with updates from now on. Expect the next chapter within the next day or two.**


	3. Day One, The Survivors

**Author's Note**: Okay, so everyone reading seems to agree that this story became.. unique from the last chapter, ahahaha. Glad I managed to do something a little new!

**Chapter 2**: Day one, The Survivors

"_What if the storm ends, and I don't see you.._

_As you are now ever again?_

_A perfect halo of gold hair and lightning,_

_Sets you off against the planet's last dance."_

(The Lightning Strike by **Snow Patrol**)

Sawyer finally caught up to himself, feeling like he remembered and yet he didn't all at once. When he opened his eyes and found himself on the beach he secretly wondered if Juliet was playing another trick on him. One time she'd gotten a little angry with him and managed to talk Miles and Jin into carting him to the beach in his sleep, and he only woke up when the tide moved in and washed over him.

He sat back up in an instant at all the yelling. Hadn't he just heard that moments ago? And it suddenly occurred to him, that this wasn't 1977.. that Juliet hadn't played a trick on him.

"_It's okay.._"

Juliet.. she was dead. He covered his face with his hands and sucked in a deep breath. She was dead.. she had let go.

"_I love you, James.. I love you so much!!_"

He felt his breath hitch slightly, and a few tears escape as it all came back to him. If he'd just believed what he was seeing in those damned blue eyes.. if he'd just believed she would have really let go of his hands, he would have told her. He would have told her that he loved her too.. why didn't he? She'd let go, and all he could do was scream for her.

What bothered him even more is that he hadn't even remembered at first. He hadn't remembered her.. how could he have forgotten a woman who he'd spent three years with?

He nearly jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up to see Kate. From the look in her eyes she appeared to remember it all as clearly as he did.. "This ain't LAX.." he stated, his voice broken with the emotion.

Kate's eyes softened in response, and she wasn't sure what she could possibly say to him at this point. She wasn't sure at first, when she'd be in the jungle, if she was the only one who remembered.. not until she saw Sawyer. Not until she saw his reaction.. "No.." she whispered in response. "No it's not.."

She looked up as she watched Jack come flying out from the jungle, and she threw out the urge to run and wrap her arms around him. He'd been wrong. And look where it had brought them all? Right back to where they had started.

"She's alive.." Sawyer said glumly, a haunted look filled with hope in his eyes. "She died.. but now.. she's alive.." he muttered, looking around at all the people who had died over the years.

Kate looked around as well. He had a point.. everyone that had died was currently running around the beach exactly as they had the first time, as though they had no idea that all of this had already happened. "Do you think we only remember because.." but she halted on the sentence. She could tell that Sawyer was already piecing her sentence together in her head and she instantly felt the dread come over her for starting that statement.

"Juliet.. she won't even remember.." he muttered out, once more covering his face with his hands. "She won't remember any of it.. any of us.. me. Because she died.. because I couldn't protect her.."

Kate felt a few tears sting her eyes. "Maybe that's not how it works.." she told him quietly. "What if she didn't die?" she asked him carefully.

Sawyer eyed her. "You want me to believe she survived fallin' down that damned ditch?" he questioned with disbelief. "You saw her.. I saw her.. no one coulda' survived that.."

"Think about it, Sawyer.." Kate stated. "The bomb never blew up when Jack threw it down there. It didn't blow when millions of things _fell_ on it.. how do you think it went off?"

Sawyer froze.

"She was alive, she had to be.." Kate said quietly. "Which means if we remember.. so will she."

Sawyer wasn't sure why, but the thought of Juliet laying down at the bottom of that hole, alive.. it hurt him even more then thinking she had died. Then an even worse sense of dread filled him. "She's with them.." he said, a groan of frustration. "She's out there, with Ben and his lackeys, being held prisoner all over again.."

Kate frowned in response. "None of this is your fault, Sawyer.." she told him, watching carefully as Jin and Sun came running towards them. "Sawyer.. look."

Sawyer looked up.

"Jim!"

Sawyer looked shocked but he stood, immediately wrapping his arms around the Korean man he'd spent three years getting to know, that he'd spent three years forming a bond of friendship with. "Jin.. man.." he muttered, releasing the man. "You remember.."

Jin nodded, then glanced at Sun. "Sun does too.." he told him. "What happened out there?"

"Juliet.." Sawyer's voice croaked out.

Jin stared at him, unsure until the look on Sawyer's face and Kate's as well made it clear for him.

"What about Juliet?" Sun asked, but she shut her mouth when she saw the look of dread cross all of their faces.

"We can go get her," Jin told him, placing his hand on his friend's shoulder.

Sun caught the look of loss on Sawyer's face and it hit her, that he and Juliet.. "You were.. together?" she asked him, her voice going quiet.

Sawyer dropped back down to the ground gripping roughly at his hair, only to realize how much shorter it was now. "She.. I.." he muttered. He'd never felt so lost before, not since he was just a little kid. He'd never counted on having an individual so much since his parents, and suddenly he felt like that broken little child all over again. "God.. I never said it back.."

Kate covered her mouth with her hand. She knew exactly what he meant, because she'd watched the utter love in Juliet's face as she shouted at Sawyer.

"_I love you, James!! I love you so much!!_"

She felt the tears slip down her face now as well, because even with all she'd seen before that.. with all that she'd done. Nothing compared to seeing the love between those two get torn apart.. nothing compared to seeing Juliet let her hands slip from Sawyer's so that she could save his life. Nothing would ever be more horrifying then seeing the acceptance in her face, as she accepted death.

"She doesn't.." Sawyer muttered, his voice breaking again. "She wished she never met me.."

Kate, Jin and Sun all stared at him with confusion.

"She said.. that we had to go with Jack's plan," he told them all, his voice hoarse. He shook his head. "Because.. if she never met me she'd never have to lose me.."

Kate was stunned. Juliet had said that to him? It had to be before they'd come back from Sawyer's and Jacks fight out in the jungle. They'd been eerily silent, unspeaking when they'd come back. Now she understood why Juliet looked so completely lost. "She didn't mean it.." she whispered.

Sawyer nodded. "Yes she did.."

Kate only let anger control her now. "Damn it, Sawyer!" she growled out, shoving him slightly. "The _only_ reason she let go of you was to _save_ you, because if she hadn't, if she'd held on you would have fallen down that shaft with her!!"

Sawyer said nothing in response.

"She loved.. loves you," she corrected. "And nothing.. nothing can break apart what you two had, I don't care what that bomb reset," she told him. "You were looking right into her eyes with me.. and it doesn't matter if she does or doesn't remember, because this is our second chance. This is our chance to do it all over again and make the _right_ choices."

Sawyer dared a glance up at Kate.

"You have two choices.." Kate told him. "You can be Sawyer.. or you can be James. Which is it going to be?"

**()()End of Ch. 2()()**

**Hope that was a little insight into Sawyer for you!! Next chapter, again.. within a day or two!!**


	4. Week Two, Juliet

**Author's Note**: Okay. I got a little tied up, but no worries! It still didn't take me too long to get this chapter up! I'm just glad everyone is still interested! (This would take place JUST the day before Claire wakes up the time Ethan's injecting her, which is Day 15)

**All Over Again**: Week Two, Juliet

Juliet was packing up the syringes and supplies inside the metal case for Tom to leave at Ethan's drop point when Ben and Tom came into her office in the infirmary. She glanced up at them both as she clicked the case shut and stood, picking up the case to hand it to Tom. "How do we know that what we're doing isn't hurting rather then helping Claire?" she questioned.

Tom waved the case off, refusing to accept it.

"Because she's still alive," Ben answered simply. "Unfortunately Tom needs to do something else today, but Ethan still needs that serum," he admitted thoughtfully. "Juliet do you know where Ethan's drop point is?"

Juliet eyed him carefully. "Yes.." she answered almost mechanically. For the passed two weeks Ben hadn't let her leave the vicinity of the barracks and she'd been shoved into rather annoying therapy sessions with Harper about things that happened the day of the plane crash that she didn't recall. What had suddenly changed his mind now?

"Good," Ben stated. "I need you to get that to the drop point quickly. Ethan will be out of the serum, and he needs to do another injection by the end of the day."

Juliet narrowed her eyes slightly but she retracted her arm with the case in it. "Why me?" she finally questioned, watching as Tom headed out of the room.

Ben arched an eyebrow up at her.

"For two weeks you haven't let me go anywhere besides my house, my office, or Harper's couch," she exemplified. "Do you suddenly have some boost of confidence that I can walk more then 50 feet on my own?" she asked, her voice steeled with ice.

Ben pondered her words for a moment too long because she was speaking again already.

"Or is it because Tom's got something better to do and you don't know anyone else willing to go running out there with that monster on it's tirade out in the jungle?" Juliet questioned, watching as he seemed slightly surprised by her outburst.

Ben shook his head and sighed. "There's no time to discuss it or find anyone else," he pointed out. "Ethan needs that serum, so you better get running if you don't want _another_ pregnant woman on this island to die."

Juliet frowned. "Fine," she lamented, finally agreeing to do it. The bug-eyed creep always knew which buttons to push to get her to do as he asked. She narrowed her eyes slightly. Bug-eyed creep? Where had that thought come from? Although she admitted it suited him. "I'll be back as quickly as possible."

Ben nodded. He watched as she headed for the door without even removing the lab coat she was currently wearing. "And Juliet."

"Yes, Ben?" she asked, not bothering to turn around, only pausing with her hand on the door.

Ben held back a chuckle. The woman was cold as steel, and he wasn't sure why that made him enjoy having her around even more. He supposed he had a masochistic side. "If you see it, hide in the banyan trees. They make good cover."

Juliet turned her head and glanced back at him. In all honesty she hadn't _ever_ seen this monster they always spoke of. Over three years and you'd think that she would have, but she didn't. "I know," she stated, before heading out the door.

"Wait."

Juliet stopped and once again turned to look at Ben.

Ben walked after her and stopped in front of her.

Juliet nearly took a step back in response to the sudden closeness but she managed not to. Instead she stood her ground and held eye contact with him.

"Stay at the medical station for tonight," he told her. "After you make the drop head straight to the there."

Juliet felt her brow line crease in response to his statement. Was he showing actual concern all the sudden for her well-being? Although the idea slipped out of her mind as soon as he spoke again.

"Tomorrow night Ethan will bring over a report on the camp, you'll bring it back to me, understand?"

Juliet would have rolled her eyes but she decided against it. "Of course," she agreed before turning and this time, actually getting away from him. She made her way out of the barracks quickly, ignoring a few choice looks of confusion in her direction.

It wasn't long before she was through the pylons and making her way through the jungle at a pace that would have made the rest of her people squirm.

She could already feel it getting dark when she finally reached his drop point and she carefully checked the mark on the tree before she knelt down. She uncovered the previous case and opened it up, noticing that he was indeed out of the serum just as Ben had told her. She quickly put the new case in its place and grabbed hold of the empty one.

She paused though, trying to figure out why it felt as though someone was watching her. Not to mention why it was she felt like she'd been here before. She frowned as she glanced around the area, but she didn't see anyone else. If Ethan was out there, he would have simply come and gotten the case, not waited for her to leave.

Finally she stood, not taking her eyes off the area around her. Someone was definitely out there. She was about to take a look around when the noises invaded her ears. She narrowed her eyes, turning around in time to see the trees moving not too far off, and whatever the hell this thing was, it was heading in her direction. "Damn it.." she muttered, grasping the empty case and turning her back on it. If she ran, the medical station was only twenty, thirty minutes at the most.

So she ran.

~*~*~

"Jack!" Kate hissed out, throwing her hand in front of him to stop him. She yanked him down to a crouch in seconds. "Look, someone's coming.."

Jack watched with Kate from the bushes. The first thing he noticed was the white lab coat, the kind a doctor would wear. The second was the blonde hair going down the woman's shoulders. "Oh my god.." he mumbled, noticing after a moment who they were seeing.

Kate's eyes widened in response. She noticed Jack getting ready to stand and she quickly yanked him back down behind the bushes. "Jack wait.." she whispered. "Think about it.. if she remembered anything, anything at all.. she would have come to the beach."

Jack frowned in response. He knew she was right, knew that what they were seeing had probably happened exactly the same the last time around. Juliet went right back to her old self. Back to being an Other. "What do we do.." he muttered, more to himself then to Kate.

"We can't tell Sawyer.." she told him hastily. "He's got hope that she remembers.. this would just.."

Jack sighed. He knew Kate was right again. It would destroy Sawyer if he knew Juliet had no memory of him what-so-ever. But if that was the case, how in the hell would they ever convince Juliet to come back with them. He watched now as Juliet's head shot up and she began glancing around and he and Kate quickly ducked their heads down below the bush.

He couldn't help but glance around the edge of the bush and he was shocked to see that Juliet was staring directly in their direction with a look that could only be considered as cold and calculating. This was the old Juliet, not the one they had come to know over the years. But it wasn't until he saw Juliet turn quickly in the opposite direction that he and Kate dared to look at what she was looking at.

"Oh no.. Jack.." Kate muttered. "The smoke monster.."

Jack stared at Kate. "She's been here for three years, I'm sure she knows how to deal with it Kate.."

Kate shook her head and she watched as Juliet took off running. "When she handcuffed herself to me in the jungle, she told me she's never seen that thing before.. she was serious, Jack."

Jack's eye's widened as he watched the smoke monster tear through the jungle not far behind Juliet. There wasn't a damn thing they could do and they both knew it.

It was the screech only a minute later that had them both taking off running in the direction the smoke monster had chased Juliet.

~*~*~

Juliet cursed Ben to the ends of the Earth as she dropped the empty case down onto the ground. There was no way in hell she was going to keep slowing herself down by carting that stupid hunk of metal through the jungle. For just a second she allowed herself to glance back and she nearly stopped running just out of shock. It was a giant pillar of smoke hauling through the jungle after her.

And it wasn't until she felt something coil around the ankle of her foot and yank her feet out from under her that she let out an involuntary screech in response. She let out another cry when she fell backwards as her foot was jerked upwards and she landed back on her shoulder and heard, felt.. the sickening crunch in her shoulder before she was hauled up and left hanging from the tree by her foot.

She stared down at the ground as the giant monster of smoke simply disappeared into the jungle and left her. She wasn't sure if she was relieved that it did so or frightened that she had know idea where in the hell it went. She winced at the shooting pains in her shoulder and quickly reached into her pocket with her good hand and pulled out her pocket knife. Why did she get the feeling that cutting herself loose was probably a bad option?

Either way, she managed to bend upwards and get the knife against the rope to start cutting it. But she couldn't manage it as the knife fumbled from her fingers and she dropped back upside down with a frustrated groan. Now she was stuck.

"Juliet!"

Juliet's head snapped towards the person who said her name and she looked at Ethan in shock. "Ethan, get me the hell down from here!"

Ethan knelt down and grabbed the knife she'd been using. "You're going to cut yourself loose, alright? Landing on the ground is just going to hurt, you cut yourself loose, I catch you, got it?"

Juliet sighed but agreed. "Alright," she stated. She reached her arm out and caught the knife as he threw it up and quickly bent upward and began slicing at the rope again. There was another involuntary screech as she managed to break the rope and she dropped down immediately, right down into Ethan's arms.

"You okay?" Ethan questioned, settling her down on the ground on her feet. He could see the way she had favored her arm while she was up there, the same way she was doing so right now. "You dislocated it again, didn't you?" he asked her.

Juliet reluctantly smiled as he took the hand of her dislocated shoulder into his. "Do it," she stated calmly.

Ethan nodded.

And when he did get it into place, Juliet let out a scream regardless of how much she tried not to. She could already feel a few tears making there way down, but Ethan hadn't thought any less of her the first time she did this on the island and cried, and he certainly didn't seem to think any less of her now. She felt weird suddenly, light-headed and she had the sudden vision of herself in a blue jumpsuit, holding an infant.

"_Have you and Horace decided on a name yet?_"

"_Yes.. we're going to name him Ethan._"

"Juliet?" Ethan questioned, staring at her look of confusion.

Juliet shook the strange thought out of her head. "I didn't even think that damned thing was real until suddenly it was chasing me through the damn jungle like a bat out of hell.."

Ethan chuckled. "Well, I'll walk you to the medical station," he told her. "Tom told me you'd be staying there tonight on the previous drop to wait for my report."

Juliet simply nodded despite the fact that meant she'd been lied too. Tom and Ben had been planning to send her for days that meant. What were they trying to do by sending her out here with that _thing_? Kill her? If they meant to injure her, they had definitely succeeded.

They weren't surprisingly far from the medical station, only a good five minute walk. Ethan turned to look at her after he pulled open the doors. "Why don't I come down with you and make you a sling for that arm," he suggested. "You know it's not good to leave it just hanging right after you just got it back in.."

Juliet smiled a little. "I can do it on my own," she stated. "I'll be fine, Ethan."

Ethan nodded. "Alright."

"I'll see you tomorrow night."

Ethan gave a wave and helped her shut the doors behind her before heading back off towards the drop point. Neither one noticed Jack and Kate watching.

**()()END()()**

**Yes. This was Juliet's chapter. But I stuck a minor bit of Jack and Kate in there. Now that they've seen Juliet, what are they going to do about it??**


	5. Week Two, The Survivors

**Author's Note**: So.. if you're sitting there, reading this author's note and thinking 'GOOD GOD HOLMES! It hasn't even been 24 hours!!' then you can have a cookie. And maybe a glass of milk. And then you can read this next chapter.

My plot bunny is defectively shooting out stories.. and he has no shame!

**All Over Again**: Two Weeks, Sawyer (With minor Kate/Jack scene from the previous chapter)

_Such pain as this,_

_Shouldn't have to be experienced,_

_I'm still reeling from the loss,_

_Still a little bit delirious._

(**Near To You** by **A Fine Frenzy**)

"Jack.." Kate shot out quietly towards him as they stopped behind another grouping of bushes. "We can't just leave her hanging there, we need to get her down.."

Jack nodded. "I know.. what the hell do we say to her though?" he questioned in return. "Hey we know you, but you don't know us, still.. we're going to cut you down even though you'll try to capture us later?"

Kate narrowed her eyes. "Sarcasm doesn't suite you.." she stated. "Let's just go.." she muttered, getting ready to stand when they both heard another voice.

"Juliet!"

Kate and Jack both stared at each other in surprise. "Ethan.." they both whispered at once.

"Jack.. it's getting close to the point where he kidnapped Claire.." Kate warned him, watching as Ethan caught Juliet after she cut herself loose just a minute later.

Jack closed his eyes and nodded. "It's tomorrow night that he screws up.." he replied quietly.

Kate frowned. How did he remember that so clearly? "We have to tell Sawyer about Juliet.." she finally stated as they watched Ethan and Juliet. She flinched when she heard Juliet's cry of pain as her shoulder was popped back into place. She remembered that cry more then she would have liked. "It doesn't matter if she doesn't remember, Jack.."

Jack nearly winced himself at Juliet's screech. It was mind-blowing to say the least because in all the time he knew her, he'd never really known her to show pain in such a way. Sure.. he'd seen her in tears when she'd come out of the tempest, when she'd told him about Ben thinking she was 'his'. But that was nothing compared to the cry of pain. "She's one of us.." he answered mechanically.

"Exactly.." Kate said with a defeated sigh. "Do you think there's a way to make the people who forgot, remember?" she questioned as Jack led her away and back towards the beach.

"I don't know.." Jack answered honestly.

Kate nodded her head. "If not.. do you think she'll love him again?"

Jack was silent in response. And suddenly he stopped, his feet glued to his place on the ground and his eyes widened in shock.

"What is it?" Kate asked immediately. "What's wrong?"

Jack couldn't believe he hadn't remembered before now. "It's Juliet.. she's.."

"She's what?" Kate dug, waiting for him to explain.

"She's seeing someone else.."

**~*~*~*~**

Sawyer sat with his back against a tree. Two weeks ago Kate had told him he needed to choose who he was going to be this time around. He needed to choose to be Sawyer or James. And when he'd told her Sawyer, she had barely spoken another word to him since. Neither did anyone else. But Juliet had wanted this, hadn't she? She had told him that if she never met him then she would never have to lose him.

Juliet didn't want to meet James. And she definitely didn't want to meet Sawyer. And truthfully it was taking all the self-control he could muster to remain on the beach and not go storming into the barracks and whisking Juliet away. He'd hurt her, broken her.. he had made her cry. And to top it all off.. he had killed her.

And he wished that he didn't want to remember her. He wished he wanted to forget.. but.. he didn't want to forget her. Because she had been one of the few people in his life to stay by his side for so long and never judge him for his past. She had never given up on him until he'd looked at Kate. Why did he do it? He'd brought her heartache and his own upon himself by doing so. He could hardly blame her for what she thought, because if it had been reversed and he'd seen her look at Jack after Rose and Bernard's speech about love..

He would have reacted worse.

"Are you alright?"

Sawyer glanced up and stared at the water bottle offered in front of his face. He was surprised to see Rose taking a seat next to him and he accepted the water bottle.

"Like I said the last time.." Rose mumbled. "It's always something with you people.. Jack has a bomb, and kablooey, we're all blown back to where we started.."

Sawyer looked over at her in shock. "If you remember, then why haven't you gone for Bernard?" he questioned.

"Because I don't know exactly where he is," Rose answered honestly. "But he knows exactly where I'll be. So if I just sit still.. I know he'll find me."

Sawyer nodded his head in appreciation of the plan.

"Now.. I'm curious, are you sulking because Kate's running around the jungle with the bomb blasting doctor, or for a different reason?" Rose asked him.

Sawyer frowned.

Rose nodded her head. "I thought so.." she stated. "This is about Juliet."

Sawyer found himself looking at Rose once again in surprise. "How did.."

"Because I saw her face when you guys were leaving to go to the barracks," Rose answered honestly. "There's no sugar-coating the sadness I saw in those eyes," she pointed out. "How long were you two together?"

Sawyer sighed. It was one thing to have heard the statement that he'd looked at Kate from Juliet. It was another to know that Rose had noticed how it made Juliet feel when he hadn't. "Year and a half.." he finally answered.

Rose smiled wistfully. "And you threw away a year and a half to look at someone you only knew a couple of months?"

Sawyer froze. "I didn't do it on purpose.." she stated with a sigh. "I didn't even realize I did it.."

Rose's eyes softened slightly. From the way he spoke, it seemed like the truth to her. "What happened after that?"

Sawyer leaned his head back against the tree and closed his eyes. "She.. decided to help Jack blow up the island.."

Rose was silent in response.

"So.. we helped Jack blow up the bomb," Sawyer stated.

Rose arched an eyebrow up at him in response.

Sawyer opened his eyes and stared at her questioning look. "After Jack threw that damned bomb down the hole.. it never blew up. It set off a crazed magnetic force.. pulled everything metal down the hatch."

Rose frowned. She didn't like the sound of how this was going.

"A chain.. got wrapped around her.." Sawyer stated, his voice breaking slightly. "Pulled her down into it.."

Rose pursed her lips. He couldn't possibly be telling her what she thought he was going to tell her.

"Me and Kate.. we tried to save her.. I had a grip on her hand, Kate was tryin' to reach and pull the chains off but she couldn't.. and.."

Rose felt her heart drop. Juliet had become one of them over a period of time, any person here on this beach would have agreed if they'd remembered. But so far as she could tell, the only people who had any memory of the events were Sawyer, Kate, Jack, Hurley, Sun, Jin, Jack.. and Sayid. And herself, and she assumed Bernard. Were these all just the people who had been alive during the blast of the bomb?

She wondered if the only reason all of them remembered would be because they had been alive.

"The damned scaffold was breaking," he muttered out. "The scaffold I was on to hold onto her.. and she saw it breaking.."

Rose felt her heart sink even deeper.

"She let go.." Sawyer finally managed to say out loud. "She let go.."

Rose looked at the utter defeat in his eyes and she could hear it in his voice as well.

"Even after everything fell in after her.. that god damned bomb never blew.." he told Rose. "Kate thinks.. that Juliet lived.. survived a damned 50foot drop at least.."

Rose felt grief at the thought of the poor blonde lying at the bottom of some pit. "Why did she think that?"

"Because the bomb was set to detonate on impact.." he stated quietly. "After all that it wasn't just gonna blow for no damned reason.."

Rose looked off towards the water now. "She blew it up.."

"She blew it up.." Sawyer repeated.

"Look around," Rose stated carefully. "Everyone who, I assume, was alive when that bomb went off, is sitting here with the old memories in tact."

Sawyer nodded.

"If she _did_ blow up that bomb, then she'll remember you."

"If she remembered, she still wouldn't want to come back here to me," Sawyer stated. "She told me that just because we love each other doesn't me we're meant to be together, that maybe we were never supposed to be together.."

Rose felt her breath hitch in response.

"That if Jack could make it so that none of it ever happened.. then he should.." Sawyer forced out.

"Did _you_ love her?" Rose asked him.

Sawyer stared at her as though she had two heads. "What the hell kinda question is that?"

Rose smiled sadly. "Answer it."

"No, I didn't love her," Sawyer answered after a minute.

Rose arched an eyebrow up.

"I loved Kate.. I was _in_ love with Juliet.."

Rose felt the edges of her lips curl up into a smile. "Then you need to stop sulking here on this beach, because this is your second chance to make everything right with her," she told him with confidence. "Hardly anyone gets to say they get to start over and make things right.. and if she doesn't remember, it's not the end of the world. If you're in love with her.. you can find a way to prove it."

"SAWYER!!"

Sawyer jumped to his feet and watched as Jack and Kate came running towards him and Rose. "What the hell are you guys doin'?" he questioned.

"It's Juliet," Kate answered quickly. "We saw Juliet."

**()()END()()**

**Was that mean? I think it might have been mean.. but the good news. I'm going to work on the next chapter too. So I bet I can shoot that chapter up before another 24hours passes.**


	6. Two Weeks, Continued

**Author's Note**: The plot-bunny strikes fast and swift, like a tornado! He demands many carrots and a juice box for his efforts.. or he shall plow down my thought process for a week. Bad plot bunny.. bad.

**All Over Again**: Two Weeks, Continued

_Don't know if our fate's already sealed,_

_The day's spinning circus on a wheel,_

_I'm ill with the thought of your kiss,_

_Coffee laced intoxicating on her lips._

(**Ashes and Wine** by **A Fine Frenzy**)

Juliet found herself twiddling her thumbs as she sat inside the medical station. This was downright ridiculous. What the hell was she supposed to do in this place for 24 hours while she waited for Ethan to show up? She had already been here for three hours and if it weren't for that crazed giant ball of smoke that had chased her, she would probably roam around the jungle to amuse herself.

Her shoulder still had that aching sense of pins and needles that hadn't gone away yet. But she'd already found a sling in one of the closets and had donned it earlier. She wasn't tired, so she couldn't simply go to sleep. Not that the pain would have helped that anyways. She let a sigh escape her lips as she glanced around at the monitors. There were two cameras just outside the doors of this station, and she squinted her eyes to get a better look.

Who was that coming towards the station? She frowned, grabbing a pistol from the drawer and headed towards the doors. Whoever it was, was in for a surprise. She wasn't in the mood for random visitors.

But when she pushed open the door of the station and stared at the approaching figure with her gun drawn she arched an eyebrow up. She narrowed her eyes slightly when he grew closer and felt herself automatically lower the gun when she could see his face through the darkness. "Goodwin?"

**~*~*~*~**

"You saw Juliet?!" Sawyer said with shock. "Where? When?" he questioned quickly. "Doing what?"

Kate put her hand on his arm to calm him down. "She was dropping off the injections for Ethan.. the injections that he gives Claire.." she whispered.

"That don't mean anything," Sawyer told her, understanding by her tone what she was implying. "It don't mean anything because she thinks that those injections are what saves Claire," he stated. "She could still remember.."

Kate glanced at Jack, and she could already see from the look in his eyes that he wasn't going to tell Sawyer about this 'Goodwin' character that Juliet would be involved with.

"Where is she now?" Sawyer questioned.

Kate frowned. "The medical station.." she admitted. "Sawyer, listen.."

"Not now," Sawyer stated, turning his back on her.

"Sawyer, damn it, wait!" Kate growled out. But it wasn't in time, because Sawyer was taking off into the jungle. "Jack we need to stop him, she has no idea who we are!"

Jack nodded.

Rose sighed, shaking her head. "Nothing is going to stop that boy from going to her when she's so close," she pointed out. "If you didn't want him to go to her, then you never should have told him."

Kate knew Rose was right. "Jack, let's catch up to him.. if we can't stop him, then we help him."

Jack quickly followed behind Kate after Sawyer.

It wasn't a long time later, maybe an hour and a half that they made their way close to the medical station and heard Juliet's voice talking to someone. And it wasn't long before they realized Sawyer wasn't going to her anymore, he was watching.. listening.

~*~*~*~

"Goodwin?" Juliet questioned, tucking the gun into the waistline of her jeans. "What are you doing here?"

"Ethan told me you'd be here tonight," Goodwin explained, dragging his fingers through his hair. He glanced at her slightly dirty and torn clothes and frowned, coming directly in front of her. He narrowed his eyes at the cut across her eyebrow and he reached his hand up, his thumb pressed close to it. "What happened to you?" he questioned softly.

Juliet watched as his eyes left the cut on her eyebrow and noticed for the first time, the sling that was also on her shoulder. "Just picked a fight with a giant tower of smoke.." she joked softly. She smiled a little in response. She didn't know why she felt like she was seeing him for the first time in years.

Goodwin chuckled. She would be able to sit here and joke about nearly getting killed as though she'd just played a simple game of push and shove on the playground with the monster. That was just the way she always was. Truthfully he'd been wanting to talk to her ever since Tom had told him about the strange episode that had occurred with her after he'd been sent off. Tom explained that Richard had said she relived her 'death'.

It hadn't made sense. Still didn't if he was being perfectly honest. But he shook it off and leaned forward to kiss her, just glad that he was finally getting to see her again after two weeks.

Juliet felt the corners of her lips twitch into a smile as he inched forward. And it wasn't until he was mere centimeters from meeting her lips that everything about him seemed to morph. His tanned skin suddenly pale and sickeningly blue. His eyes held no shine, his eyes were dead and dull. Her eyes drifted down only to see the gaping whole through his body and she gasped, taking a step backwards to quickly and immediately falling down.

"Juliet?!" Goodwin stated, kneeling down to help her.

"Oh my god.." Juliet whispered, trying to crawl backwards away from him. "Oh god.. oh my god.."

~*~*~*~

Sawyer, Kate and Jack all looked visibly stunned in response to Juliet's sudden reaction.

One second ago, Sawyer swore Juliet was looking at that man, he assumed it was the Goodwin she'd told him about during their Dharma stay, he swore she was looking at him with a look of pure affection. And suddenly their was a look of total and complete fear and disbelief on her face. It was a look he'd never seen before..

"What in the hell just happened?" Kate hissed out, watching as Juliet began backing away from Goodwin. "What's wrong with her?"

Jack shook his head. "I don't know.."

Sawyer could only look on, unable to stop watching her, unable to go to her.. and unable to just walk away from her.

~*~*~*~

"Juliet," Goodwin stated quickly, getting a grasp on her good shoulder. "Hey, hey calm down," he told her, giving her a light shake. Was this what Tom had been talking about? The look on her face had been one of complete horror, he'd never seen anything like it on her normally composed features.

Juliet shook her head and took a deep breath. What the hell was wrong with her? She just felt sick now, how could she have just imagined him dead as he was going to kiss her? "Goodwin.. you.." she got out softly. "You should go back.."

"What?" Goodwin questioned out of confusion. "Jules, what just happened to you?" he asked with worry, tucking a misplaced strand of blonde hair behind her ear.

"Nothing," Juliet shot out quickly, getting herself back to her feet. "Goodwin.. you need to get back to the tail section, if Ben finds out you came here.."

Goodwin shot her and uneasy look. "What's Ben gonna do?" he questioned, standing up with her.

Juliet shook her head. "Please just leave.."

"Juliet, I came here to see you," Goodwin stated, taking her hand into his.

"JULIET!"

Juliet and Goodwin froze, their hands pulling apart immediately. They both watched as Ethan came running towards them.

"Ethan?" she questioned out of confusion. "What are you doing here?"

"Claire, the pregnant girl," he huffed out. "She woke up when I was giving her the injection."

Juliet's eyes widened slightly. "Ethan, she could die without those injections!"

"Which is why I'm going to find her when she's alone, and I'm going to take her."

Goodwin looked on in confusion.

Juliet stared at him with mild shock. "Have you lost your mind?!" she growled out at him. "You can't just kidnap the poor girl, we only want to help her safely deliver her child," she pointed out to him. "Kidnapping is not part of the plan!"

Ethan shook his head. "There's no choice here, Juliet," he retorted. "I'm going to have to bring her here."

"You _can't_ do that!" Juliet stated sternly, taking a step forward towards him.

"You can't stop me," Ethan noted.

Juliet's eyes narrowed in response as Ethan headed back into the jungle towards the beach camp of the survivors. "He's lost his god damned mind," she stated, running her fingers through her hair.

"Juliet.." Goodwin whispered.

Juliet stared at him. "Get back to the tail-section, Goodwin," she ordered him. "I have to make sure Ethan doesn't hurt anyone, this is _not_ how we're supposed to do this.."

Goodwin stared at her in shock. "Juliet you're _injured_, in case you forgot!"

"I didn't forget," she warned him. "Just go, I can't waste my time with this when Ethan's going out of control."

"Waste your time?" Goodwin questioned. "So this, you and me? We're just a waste of time to you?"

Juliet frowned. "That's not.. I didn't mean that," she stated.

"No, I guess you never do," Goodwin stated with a shake of his head. "You're right though.. this is a waste of time Juliet."

Juliet couldn't help the way her eyes flashed with hurt from his words. "What do you mean..?"

"You and me," Goodwin stated. "We could run off, right here, right now, would you run off with me?"

Juliet froze in response to the question. "I.." she fumbled out. "No.."

Goodwin shook his head slightly. "See you around Juliet," he stated, turning and heading back in the direction of the tail section.

"Goodwin!" Juliet yelled after him. She couldn't help the fact that a few tears ran down her face, not because he'd left her, but because she'd hurt him and she knew it. She watched as he continued disappearing into the jungle without turning back, and she leaned her back against the one closed door of the medical station and closed her eyes. This whole night was a disaster. But she opened her eyes and her breath caught in her throat. "Ethan.." she mumbled. She had to catch up to him before he hurt somebody.

**()()END()()**

**Oooh.. uh-oh. Was that another quick update or what? the part where Juliet envisions Goodwin as a corpse is courtesy of teh-Sarah! Thanks girl!!**


	7. Day 14 and 15

**Author's Note**: Everyone loves my speedy updates eh? Well.. the plot bunny thanks you all for your juice and carrot offerings. So, he's letting me update again. What a nifty little bunny, don't you think?

**All Over Again**: Day 14/15

_I can hardly remember,_

_The look of my own eyes,_

_How could I love this?_

_A life so dishonest.._

(**Save Me **by **Shinedown**)

When Jack, Kate and Sawyer finally made it back to the beach, it was Hurley who came running up to them.

"Dudes!" Hurley said quickly. "Where've you guys been?? Ethan attacked Claire again, and she woke up.. she freaked out and took off into the jungle, Charlie went after her!"

Jack stared at him in shock. Were events changing? "This is bad.. none of this is supposed to be happening yet," he mumbled out in confusion. "Did anyone else go after them?" he asked quickly.

Hurley nodded. "I found Sayid, Sun and Jin, they're looking for them now!"

Jack let out a little bit of relief. But he still didn't feel better about it. Last time Ethan hung Charlie from a tree and left him for dead.

"If Juliet's following Ethan, you heard yourself she ain't gonna let him hurt nobody," Sawyer pointed out to Jack.

"You found Juliet?" Hurley questioned. "So she remembers?"

Sawyer frowned.

Kate sighed but shook her head at Hurley. "No.."

Hurley frowned. "But you just said.."

"I know what I said," Sawyer snapped out. "We _saw_ her, heard her, we didn't go traipsin' up to her."

Hurley shut his mouth after that.

"Which way did Claire and Charlie go?" Jack asked immediately.

Hurley pointed off into the jungle.

"You guys coming?" Jack questioned Kate and Sawyer, both of whom nodded and followed behind him.

~*~*~*~

Juliet was trying to track Ethan when she lost it due to the thunderstorm that picked up almost instantly. She was momentarily shocked when she heard a woman's scream. She had lost Ethan, but she was assuming she'd just found him again. She ran towards the screams and stopped short out of shock with what she saw through the rain.

Ethan was hanging a man from a tree.. with Claire trying to push him away from the poor guy. Had Ethan completely lost his mind? She pulled the sling off, dropping it to the ground and she didn't hesitate in what she did next. She ran full-force towards him and rammed her shoulder into him, sending him flying backwards and dropping the man back down to the ground he'd been trying to hang.

"Who are you?!" Claire cried out, kneeling down to help Charlie who was coughing and sputtering.

Juliet turned to Claire, ignoring the shooting pain in her shoulder now. "It doesn't matter," she told her quickly. "Get out of here, run!"

Claire shook her head. "I can't, I can't just leave him!"

Juliet heard Ethan before she could do anything. And suddenly she felt her leg pulled out from underneath her, landing face first into the muddied ground. She felt her arm twisted back behind her before she could even react and she let out a cry of pain almost immediately.

"Have you lost your mind, Julie?!" Ethan yelled at her, wrenching her arm back further. "We _have_ to do this! And you're either with us or against us!"

Claire's eyes widened in shock. The woman was with Ethan? Why in the world would they be fighting with each other, why would this woman 'Julie', be helping them if she was with him?

Charlie looked on is surprise too, and he quickly tried pulling the rope off his neck.

Juliet clenched her jaw as she felt another ripple of pain shoot through her shoulder and she quickly threw her other arm back, nailing him in the jaw with her elbow. What in the world had gotten into Ethan? Earlier today he'd been perfectly normal, caught her as she cut herself loose from that trap. Hell, he'd even popped her shoulder back into place and now he'd nearly yanked it back out. She had _never_ seen Ethan violent before.

"You just tried to kill somebody!" Juliet shot back at him as he began standing up. "You're insane, Ethan," she stated. She moved to take a step forward but she froze when he pulled a gun out from behind her back. She hesitated before taking a step backwards and putting her hands out in front of her.

"I hate to do this Juliet, but you're not leaving me a choice," Ethan stated calmly, walking towards her.

Juliet felt her breath hitch as he brought the gun between her eyes. She was fairly certain she heard Claire let out a gasp as well in response, but she didn't have time to think about it.

"Ethan stop!!"

Juliet looked over immediately, shocked to see that Goodwin had come after them as well. Her eyes widened slightly as Ethan didn't look, he just turned and fired at the voice. "GOODWIN!" she screamed immediately, running to the now fallen man.

Ethan watched in silence. That definitely wasn't supposed to happen.. He needed to get Juliet and Claire and get out of here fast. So he walked towards Juliet who was trying to save Goodwin.

Juliet felt the tears stinging her eyes as she tried to stop the bleeding from his stomach. "Why did you come back?" she questioned softly.

"Ethan.." Goodwin muttered, watching Ethan coming up behind Juliet.

Juliet nearly forgot about Ethan, and by the time she turned to face him all she saw was the butt of the gun coming down and then darkness.

Ethan turned before anyone could react and brought the gun down on Charlie now. "You'll have to come with me, Claire, or I'll just have to shoot Charlie here.."

Claire stared at the blonde woman in shock. She looked down at Charlie's now unconscious form and felt a few tears fall from her eyes. "Alright.." she said quietly. She stood back up slowly, watching as the man picked up the blonde woman and tossed her over his shoulder.

"This way," Ethan stated, pointing the gun in another direction and following behind Claire as she went in the direction he asked. He would have just left Juliet behind, but Ben would have never forgiven him for that.

~*~*~*~

"Charlie!" Jack yelled out, running to the smaller man who was laying on the ground. The rope was around his neck.. but, he wasn't hanging. What did that mean, he wondered as he shook Charlie.

Sawyer was following behind Kate as she headed towards Jack and Charlie but he froze and glanced down, leaning over to pick up the offending item stuck to his boot. He narrowed his eyes as he picked it up and then frowned. "Juliet.." he whispered.

Kate glanced back at him immediately and stared at the exact sling Juliet had been wearing hours ago. "She was here.." she stated to Jack. "Juliet was.. do you think she would have cut Charlie down?"

Jack glanced at the two and then back at Charlie. "Everything is different.." he told her. "But Juliet's the only one who could have.. our people wouldn't just leave Charlie laying out in the jungle.."

Sawyer frowned as he stared at the sling in his hands. Everything _was_ different.. but how different would things get?

"Oh my god.." Kate whispered, covering her mouth with her hands. "Jack! Sawyer!"

Jack turned and looked at what Kate was pointing at. It was that man Goodwin. He quickly moved over to the bleeding man. "He's dead.." he stated quietly.

"Jack, Charlie's waking up!" Kate told him quickly, helping Charlie to his feet. She didn't fail to notice Sawyer's silence during all of this. She knew he was trying to accept everything. He was trying to accept that Juliet wasn't _his_ Juliet anymore.. that she had no memory of those years they had spent together.

Charlie looked at them all in shock. "How did.. how am I?"

"Hey, Charlie, calm down," Jack stated, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Tell us what happened."

Charlie stared at Jack in confusion. "I drowned.." he told him carefully.

Jack, Kate and Sawyer all froze in response.

"Where's Claire? And Aaron?" he asked quickly. But he stopped, looking around. He glanced at the man who'd been shot and he frowned. Had he dreamed about dying? About Claire and her unborn baby? "Wait.. what.."

Sawyer's eyes widened. "If Charlie remembers both then that means.."

Kate grinned. "That means anyone can remember!" she finished for Sawyer.

Jack ignored both their outbursts. "Charlie, do you remember what just happened?" he asked seriously.

Charlie nodded. "Ethan attacked Claire while she was sleeping.. again.." he stated. "But Claire got freaked and ran into the jungle, I followed her and then Ethan attacked us. He was about to hang me from the tree when.."

He paused. Had he remembered this correctly? "When.. Juliet came out of nowhere and just tackled him.."

Sawyer perked up slightly. If Juliet was helping the survivors, did that mean she remembered already?

"She told Claire to run, but Claire wouldn't leave me behind.." he told them all solemnly. "Then her and Ethan started fighting, but Ethan pulled out a gun and trained it on her.. then that guy," Charlie stated, pointing towards the dead man. "Juliet called him Goodwin.. he yelled for Ethan to stop, and Ethan just turned a shot him.. no hesitation."

Sawyer frowned no. His hope was dwindling as Charlie recounted the story.

"Juliet went running over and tried to stop the bleeding, but Ethan came over and knocked her out with the gun.. then he knocked me out.." Charlie admitted. "What the bloody hell is going on?"

**()()END()()**

**Yes Charlie.. that _is_ the question isn't it? Good Charlie.. very good. The plot bunny applauds you for asking the question everyone is wondering. I'm going to try and update again tonight! But my best friend's pregnant and thinks she's having contractions, so.. it might be delayed until I get further notice on that! This chapter ran shorter then I planned, so, I promise I'll write you guys a nice long chapter for the next one, deal?**


	8. Day 15

**Author's Note**: Hahaha.. you guys really like my plot bunny don't you? Didn't you people ever learn not to feed the wild animals? Then they just keep coming back.. with a vengeance.

Well, fortunately the plot bunny is actually very generous.. he's making good on his deal for giving you guys a longer chapter, and tonight even! Here you go!

This one goes out to **Aurora1020**, for asking the question that I think EVERYONE was asking themselves: How much do Ben and Ethan _really_ remember? (That question will be answered soon)

**All Over Again**: Day 15

_You don't gotta be a prisoner in your mind,_

_Let your heart be your guide,_

_You will know that you're good if you just trust in the good._

(**Just Stand Up**)

Juliet groaned as she sat up. The aching in her shoulder was annoying, but not horrible.. it was the massive migraine bothering her the most. She brought her hand up to her forehead and frowned when she felt something wet and sticky. When she brought her hand back down and saw the blood she let out another groan.

She stood and looked around, studying her surroundings. She was in one of the lab rooms and she made the attempt to push the door open but it wouldn't budge. She narrowed her eyes slightly before kicking the door. "Ethan you son of a bitch!! Open the door!!" she yelled out, not even entirely sure if he was anywhere near by. She nearly stopped pounding at the door in shock at her own language use before she wiped the thought away.

Ethan had shot Goodwin. He'd shot him. Where was Goodwin? Claire? The man that Ethan had tried to hang?

"Juliet..?"

Juliet's head turned quickly and she turned, watching as Claire's head poked out from behind a lab table. Her eyes softened slightly at the younger woman and she walked away from the door, heading towards Claire and squatting down in front of her. "Hey there.." she said, her voice becoming gentle. "You're Claire, right?"

Claire frowned. She didn't know why she was remembering all sorts of different memories.. memories of her unborn son, of people from the beach dying, she wasn't sure why but she knew they were real memories too. And she remembered Juliet having saved her life once when she had first joined them on the beach, Charlie had told her. But why didn't Juliet remember? Then again.. the first time all of this happened, Juliet hadn't been there when Ethan hung Charlie from the tree.

"Yes.." she answered at last. Maybe Juliet just didn't remember yet, or maybe she herself was just losing her mind. "If you're one of them.. why did you help me and Charlie?"

Juliet smiled sadly. "Ethan was never supposed to hurt anybody.." she explained. She wasn't sure how much she should actually tell the young woman, but at this point, she was losing her faith in the island, Ben.. their people, and even 'Jacob' if he even existed.. "The injections he's been giving you were designed to help you during your pregnancy.." she told her carefully. "Women haven't been able to give birth on this island in a long time.."

Claire frowned for show and nodded her head apprehensively. She'd heard all of this before.

"I'll get you out of here," Juliet promised. She glanced around before noticing that there was clearly no one else in the room. "What did.." she paused. "Did Ethan.. leave them out there?" she asked Claire finally.

Claire nodded slowly.

Juliet closed her eyes and sat down, suddenly not feeling strong enough to remain squatting.

"I'm sorry about your friend.." Claire said solemnly. But the look on Juliet's face made her hesitate. "More then a friend.." she said quietly. "Did you.. love him?" she asked, remembering Juliet and Jack's closeness for a brief moment.

"Love?" Juliet questioned. She'd never actually questioned whether or not she loved Goodwin before. Neither had he. "I don't.." she paused.

"_Mm.. somethin' smells good.._"

"_Hey there.." -- "Is that for me?"_

"_You were amazing today.."_

"_Thank you for believing in me.." -- "I love you.."_

"_Hm.. I love you too.."_

Claire stared at Juliet's suddenly glazed over eyes. "Juliet..?" she questioned.

Juliet blinked as whatever she just imagined faded. That had been at the barracks.. but she was _positive_ that it had never happened before. What the hell was happening to her? First she imagined Goodwin as a corpse, now she was imagining herself with a non-existent man? But.. now Goodwin was a corpse..

"Are you okay?" Claire asked, watching a ton of different emotions display over Juliet's normally calm and collected features. She inched forward to reach out to Juliet when the other woman's eyes simply rolled back and she dropped to a laying position unconscious. "Juliet?!" she squeaked out, shaking her shoulders lightly.

"What happened?" Ethan questioned, opening the door and going over to both the women.

Claire shook her head in confusion. "I.. I don't know," she answered honestly. "She just.. just dropped.."

Ethan frowned before picking Juliet up into his arms.

"What are you going to do to her?" Claire questioned, standing slowly with her hands over her stomach.

Ethan glanced at Claire but said nothing as he carried Juliet out of the room and locked the door shut behind him. He needed to get a hold of Ben, and fast.

**~*~*~*~**

Charlie followed Jack, Kate and Sawyer towards the medical station. "So you guys are telling me.. that you blew up a hydrogen bomb to reset things?" he questioned with uncertainty.

"That about sums it up," Sawyer answered.

"So.. what I remember, about dying, happened?" he asked next.

Sawyer glanced at him. "Not anymore.."

"But I remember, you said the plan was to land in LA and.. forget," Charlie pointed out.

Sawyer frowned and rolled his eyes. "Yeah well.. guess our plan sucked," he stated resentfully.

Charlie was quiet for a moment. "What happened to you before you blew up that bomb that your so angry?" he asked next. "Not that you weren't _always_ angry, but now you just seem worse."

Kate glanced back at Sawyer and gave him a warning look. It wasn't Charlie's fault that he had no idea what happened after his dead.

"Juliet died.." Sawyer answered after a few beats of silence.

Charlie narrowed his eyes. "Well.. she _is_ one of--"

"Don't even say it," Sawyer warned him, his voice seething with hostility.

Kate put a hand on Charlie's shoulder. "Was.. Charlie," she stated quietly. "She did just save your life, it doesn't matter that she's one of them right now, what matters is that we _know_ she's a prisoner on this island just as much as the rest of us. She's one of us whether she knows it or not."

Charlie was silent in response to Kate's statement. He glanced back at Sawyer and sighed. "But.. what I don't understand is that you never liked her in the first place."

Sawyer eyed him. A few years ago, he probably would have just punched the guy by now. But all he needed not to do that now was the image of Juliet, placing a hand gently on his arm and saying '_James.._' to stop him from doing that now. Charlie was just stating the facts that he knew. "Yeah well.. things change, shortstack."

Charlie chuckled. "So you like her now?" he questioned. He watched the look on Sawyer's face. "Oh.. OH.." he stated thoughtfully. "Wow, didn't see that coming."

Jack snorted out a laugh in response, not able to hold it in any longer. That was always one of the things he missed about Charlie. When they finally came up to the bushes outside of the medical station he put his arm out, stopping all of them. "Who the hell is that?" he whispered.

Sawyer glanced out from behind the bushes. "Son of a bitch.." he muttered under his breath, watching as Ethan let Richard Alpert and Ben's daughter Alex into the medical station.

~*~*~*~

"Where is she?" Richard questioned, following Ethan through the doors of the medical station.

Ethan sighed, opening of the doors and pointing to Juliet laying on one of the beds. "Right there."

"And what happened to her?" Richard questioned, heading over towards Juliet.

"She's losing her mind," Ethan stated. "She attacked me when I was getting Claire, so I had to knock her out," he admitted. "I put her in the room with Claire, she woke up and banged on the door, so I was heading over to let her out, when I went in there, she was out cold on the floor with Claire trying to shake her awake."

Richard glanced at him. "Anything else?"

Ethan sighed. "She woke up a little while ago, had no idea about anything that went on today, last thing she remembered was dropping off the injections at my drop point," he explained. "I told her to get some sleep, she's been out since, hasn't woken up for anything.."

Richard narrowed his eyes slightly. He sat down, trying to think of his next move. Jacob said she would remember, but every time she tended to remember things, she would forget them.. and everything else that happened around that time.

"Ben said you were on your way here already, do you know what's wrong with her?" Ethan questioned. "Because I'm not going to lie.. I've never seen anything like this, and I'm a doctor."

Richard waved him off. "I need to take her with me," he stated, lifting Juliet into his arms.

"Take her with you where?" Ethan questioned out of curiosity.

Richard eyed him carefully. "That's not important," he stated. "Alex is here to help you, Tom will be here soon as well," he told him, walking passed and heading back for the doors of the medical station.

Ethan and Alex both watched him leave.

Richard glanced down at her. Perhaps it was time to take her for a visit to see Jacob. Before her memories caused her to hurt herself.

~*~*~*~

Sawyer stared in shock as Richard came back out just a few minutes later with an unconscious Juliet and shut the doors to the medical station behind him. He didn't hesitate to run forward towards him. "Richard!"

Richard turned to the voice immediately, and although he was surprised to see the man, he hid it well. "Imagine seeing you again.." he stated cautiously. He narrowed his eyes slightly and glanced down at the blonde in his arms. Jacob _had_ said she would need to at least remember something on her own without forgetting.. perhaps she needed something more familiar to jog her memory.

"So you remember me.." Sawyer stated.

"You're a hard man to forget," Richard admitted. "If you're planning on going in there to get the girl back, I'm not going to stop you," he told him. "But I'm warning you now, that Claire needs that serum that Ethan's going to administer if she's going to survive her pregnancy.."

Sawyer glanced behind him and Jack, Kate and Charlie who froze at the statement.

"Why should we trust you on that?" Kate questioned.

Sawyer just put his hand out to stop them. He glanced back at Juliet in his arms. "Can I take her?" he questioned.

"Somehow I don't think saying no would stop you from trying," Richard stated with a hint of a smile before transferring Juliet to his arms. He glanced up at the cameras and shook his head, as long as Ethan wasn't at the monitors they would be fine. The cameras only emitted live feed, there was no playbacks here. "You do realize, she doesn't remember anything that happened back then.. don't you?"

Sawyer glanced down as Juliet's head rested against his shoulder. "Yeah.. I know," he admitted.

Richard nodded. "I would suggest.. leaving Claire here for now," he told them. "We know that she'll be set free by Alex soon, but Ethan needs to finish administering that serum."

Sawyer narrowed his eyes.

"Taking her now would be killing her," Richard stated. "If Alex for some reason does _not_ release Claire, then I'll come and take her back to you myself."

Charlie frowned. "We're just gonna take this creeps word that he'll give Claire back to us?"

Sawyer glanced back at Charlie. "He's never lied yet.."

Richard nodded. "You've got my word that I won't let anything happen to her, though.. if anyone finds out Juliet isn't with me, I'll have to tell them you took her."

Sawyer chuckled. "Let 'em try and take her back."

Richard just smiled and shook his head. "Now I know why she let go to save you," he stated before turning and walking into the jungle.

"Well?" Jack stated, watching Sawyer.

"I believe Richard just fine.." he stated. "But Ethan's another story, I don't trust him at all."

Charlie narrowed his eyes. "You're really gonna trust that guy to just _give_ Claire back to us?" he asked in shock.

"Richard _is_ honest," Kate stated, remembering how honest he was to her and Sawyer about little Ben when they gave the boy to him. "I've seen it for myself.. Sawyer's right, Charlie.." she stated. "Think about it, we keep trying to change things and bad things start happening."

"And they start happening faster," Sawyer pointed out. "But I still don't think we should leave Claire here."

Charlie glanced at the blonde in Sawyer's arms. "And you don't think we're taking her back to the beach just a _wee_ bit too fast?"

Jack sighed, shaking his head. "Knock it off, Charlie.." he told him. "We didn't say we were leaving her here, Sawyer already said that he didn't trust Ethan, obviously none of us do.."

Charlie frowned. He wasn't liking the idea at all of leaving Claire with Ethan. "Alright.." he stated. "Alright.. let's get her," he stated, going to pull the doors open to the medical station. "The bloody things aren't budging.."

Jack frowned, moving over to help Charlie. But he was right, the doors were locked tight. "We gotta find something to get these doors open.." he stated, glancing at all of them.

All of them looked up as they heard voices heading towards them.

"Let's go, before someone sees us," Jack stated, ushering them all away. He grabbed Charlie's arm pulling him in the direction of the beach. "Come on, we're gonna come back for her Charlie, we can't save her if we get killed."

Charlie frowned but reluctantly followed Jack and the rest of them back to the beach.

~*~*~*~

Sun watched as Sawyer came back onto the beach with Juliet in his arms. She nudged Jin and pointed. "Look.. they found Juliet.."

Jin looked up immediately and stood, heading over to them. He saw Jack, Kate and Charlie coming around the beach from the other direction and grabbing everyone's attention. "Does she.. remember?" he asked.

"Not yet.." Sawyer admitted. He laid her down inside his tent and frowned, staring the the stitches on her forehead and running his finger over them.

Juliet's eyes snapped open immediately, grabbing the offending hand on her forehead. She sat up and backed away instantly. "Who the hell are you?" she questioned immediately.

"Calm down," Sawyer stated, putting his hands up in a mock surrender before she decided to attack him.

Jin stepped out of Sawyer's make-shift tent, leaving the two alone.

Juliet stared at him. She couldn't place the familiarity, almost as though she knew him. "Who are you?" she questioned again, her voice calm now.

"Name's James," he drawled out instantly.

"Juliet.." she stated warily. She couldn't even begin to wonder how the hell she'd gotten to the beach camp of the survivors but she was fairly certain Ben wasn't going to be happy about this. James.. James Ford was one of the survivors she'd read a file on. She'd only vaguely skimmed it though.

"Now lemme see that," he stated, lifting his hand up to her forehead once again.

Once again, Juliet grabbed his hand as he reached out for her and she was vaguely shocked when he entwined their fingers. She sucked in a deep breath, suddenly she didn't feel so well. "Where are we?" she questioned quietly.

Sawyer pulled her to her feet and led her out of the tent. "Welcome to the camp of the survivor's, Juliet.."

Juliet glanced around. All of it seems familiar. _He_ seemed familiar. She glanced back down at their hands with bafflement. It felt.. right.

"_I love you.."_

"_I love you back.."_

"Oh my god.." she whispered.

Sawyer glanced at her look of shock.

"It worked.."

Sawyer grinned down at her. "You remember?"

Juliet nodded, turning to look at him.

Sawyer just laughed before leaning down and capturing her lips with his. "Don't you ever do that again.." he muttered.

Juliet smiled softly. "I won't.."

"Dudes.. I think she remembers.." Hurley stated, pointing to Sawyer and Juliet down the beach.

Charlie, Jack and Kate all looked over at them.

"Holy.." Charlie muttered. "Talk about love and hate.."

Kate chuckled, but not before noticing something in the woods. Heading fast towards Sawyer and Juliet. "SAWYER! JULIET!!" she screamed.

Juliet opened her eyes at Kate's scream and pulled away from him. She glanced behind Sawyer and her eyes widened. She didn't hesitate to shove Sawyer aside and that was all it took for her to hit the ground in an instant. The last thing she saw was Sawyer running up the beach after her as she was dragged back into the jungle by the smoke monster. "JAMES!!"

**()()END()()**

**Well.. talk about short-lived reunions eh?**

**Smokey doesn't like it when you try to change things too quickly.. bad smokey.**


	9. The Tailies!

**Author's Note**: The plot bunny feels horrible and apologizes for frustrating everyone! For that, he doesn't request any carrots at all!

PS. **Elyad**, I laughed so hard when I read your review. It's gotta be my absolute favorite. Nice potty language!

**All Over Again**: The Tailies!

Ana Lucia stopped short when they saw all the trees moving. They were searching for Goodwin because he'd gone off to find food and never returned, and she knew they never should have let him go off alone with people getting snatched by those insane people who lived on this island. There was hardly any of them left at this point, just her, Eko, Libby, Bernard and Cindy.

"What the hell is that?" she questioned. "Holy shit.." she muttered, watching as a tower of smoke went looming passed them faster then anything she'd ever seen. She glanced to the side and watched the woman who was being dragged behind it. Her eyes widened as she watched her clawing at the ground for any way to stop and Ana quickly leaped, grabbing onto her hand.

Juliet looked shocked at the sudden grip on her hand and she stared into the woman's eyes. 'Ana Lucia' was a tail section survivor, she had studied the photo and the file merely because Goodwin was going to be with these people.

"Eko!! Help me!" Ana Lucia cried out.

Eko quickly grabbed the blonde woman around the waist that Ana had managed to grab hold on and was surprised when the smoke that had its hold on her disappeared off into the jungle.

Bernard stepped forward immediately as Eko placed Juliet on her feet. "Juliet!"

Juliet looked over at Bernard and she smiled a little.

"You know her?" Ana Lucia questioned, giving Juliet the once-over. The woman was a mess, clothes torn, bruises and bleeding hands from where she tried to claw herself free from that monster.

Bernard nodded. "Yes.. yes I do.." he stated, going over to Juliet's side.

"Hey Bernard.." Juliet stated with a sad smile.

Bernard quickly helped her take a seat. "How did that thing get you?" he questioned.

Juliet frowned. "I was.. on the beach," she told him. "I was with James and everyone else and that thing.. it just came barreling out of the jungle.." she explained cautiously. "I had to.. it was going to get James.. so I pushed him out of the way."

Bernard's eyes softened. He still remembered the way her eyes glistened with the unshed tears when she had politely declined his offer for tear. They looked exactly like that right now.

"There's more survivors?" Ana Lucia questioned immediately.

Juliet smiled sadly. "Yes.." she told them. "I can tell you how to get there.."

"Tell?" Ana Lucia questioned, arching an eyebrow up at her. "You're not going?"

Juliet shook her head. "When you get there.. Bernard.." she said quietly. "Tell James that I'm so sorry.."

Bernard frowned and placed his hands on her shoulders. "What are you talking about, Juliet?" he asked her. "I can't leave you out here alone.."

Juliet sighed. She pointed her finger in the direction she'd been dragged from. "As long as you head straight through in that direction you'll come out on the beach that they're all camped on, but it's quite a few miles.."

"You were dragged _miles_ by that thing?" Ana Lucia asked in utter disbelief. "I agree with Bernard, you need to come with us.." she told her. "We can't just leave you out here."

Juliet stood up. "I can't go back there," she stated solemnly. "Those.. people," she stated, knowing better that the tail section, besides Bernard, didn't call them Others. "They're going to come back for me.. and I can't let anyone get hurt."

Bernard sighed, pulling off a piece of his shirt and ripping it into two. "Give me your hands," he told her, and watched as she obliged. He quickly wrapped the two pieces around her bleeding hands.

"Come back for you?" Libby questioned now, speaking for the first time. "You're saying those crazy people are trying to kidnap you?"

Juliet smiled warily at the other blonde. She looked at Bernard and pulled him closer, whispering into his ear. "Ben will try and find me.." she told him before pulling away and speaking for all of them to hear. "Don't you dare tell James you found me out here.. and if he finds out you did.. tell him I was dead," she clarified.

Bernard's eyes widened slightly. "I can't.."

"There she is!"

Juliet turned, watching as Tom and Pickett came running towards them. She turned back to Bernard and the rest of the people from the tail-section. "Ben will kill him if James keeps coming for me. Now go!! GO!"

Ana Lucia grabbed Bernard's arm and ushered him in the direction Juliet had told them to go with everyone else following quickly behind them.

"Jesus, Julie.." Tom stated, going over to her. He'd seen the people from the tail section go running off, but it wasn't as though Juliet would have been able to stop all of them herself. "What happened to you?"

Juliet glanced at herself for about the first time. "Ever get dragged through the jungle by a giant tower of smoke for a few miles?" she questioned, and watched as Tom and Pickett stared at her in shock. "Yes.. not exactly a vacation. Remind me never to do it again.."

Tom released a chuckle in response to her statement. He frowned when he noticed her already pale skin grow even more pale though. "Juliet.." he stated, reaching out to grab her as her knees gave out.

"Just tired.." Juliet mumbled into Tom's shoulder.

"Yeah I bet.." Tom stated with uncertainty. "We better get her back to the medical station so Ethan can clean up all these cuts and bruises.." he told Pickett. "She looks pretty bad."

"I can hear you, you know.." Juliet stated with a wavering voice.

"Yeah yeah," Tom replied with a roll of his eyes in Pickett's direction. "Can you walk?"

Juliet smirked slightly. "Yes.." she stated, even as Tom draped one of her arms over his shoulder to help her walk.

Pickett glanced around before lifting Juliet's other arm and putting it over his shoulder and helping Tom walk her to the medical station.

~*~*~*~

"He hasn't moved at all.." Kate stated, sitting down next to Jack. "That thing has never come up on the beach before, Jack.."

Jack nodded. "I know.. I don't know how to explain it," he replied, watching Sawyer sit beside Rose, exactly where they'd originally found the two last time.

"Do you think she's.."

Jack frowned now. "I don't know.. we didn't find her anywhere."

"She was only protecting Sawyer, that thing was heading towards him.." Kate muttered.

Jack sighed, leaning his head back against the tree behind them. Sure, when they'd first brought Juliet back to the beach she took a few unnecessary risks to herself, but never any like this. Both her and Sawyer had changed themselves for the better.

"Jack look.." Kate stated, standing and pointing.

Jack glanced over and watched as Bernard, Ana Lucia, Libby and Eko emerged from the jungle. "They're here already.. they shouldn't be here already," he stated quietly. "I really hope all this stuff that's going on isn't because things are moving along too quickly.. otherwise we're all in trouble."

"Rose!" Bernard yelled, heading over to her. They'd lost Cindy once again like last time on their way here and hadn't been able to find her.

Rose snapped her head up in surprise and stood from Sawyer's side, turning to look at Bernard coming over to her. She laughed a little and wrapped her arms around him.

Bernard glanced down at Sawyer sitting against the tree. He looked at Rose and she simply smiled sadly. He frowned, but regardless of Juliet's request he couldn't lie to the younger man. "Sawyer."

Sawyer glanced at Bernard as he squatted down next to him, and watched as the other members of the tail section stood behind him.

"Juliet.. I saw her, talked to her," he told him.

Sawyer stood up immediately and watched as Bernard did the same. "Where? Was she okay!?"

Bernard shook his head. "She wouldn't come back with us, said that _they_ were after her, we had to go.. they were coming."

Sawyer ran his hand through his hair, still not comfortable with how short it was again. "Was she okay?" he repeated the question again.

Bernard sighed. "Ana Lucia saw her being pulled through the jungle by that monster.." he admitted. "She and Eko managed to pull Juliet away from it, she had a lot of bumps and bruises.. but she seemed alright."

Sawyer glanced at Ana Lucia and he could almost see the recognition in her eyes. But he ignored it.

"She went with them," Bernard told him. "I saw them take her with them before we got away.."

"She wanted us to tell you she was dead," Ana Lucia stated, watching as the Sawyer's eyes hardened. It wasn't until they'd walked onto the beach that the strange memories had hit her. She remembered being shot, dying. And yet, here she was again, staring at the man she'd romped with to get the gun she was shot with. "Because of a man named Ben.."

Bernard shot her a dirty look.

Sawyer frowned in response. "She told you.. to say she was dead?"

"She wants to protect you," Eko stated, speaking for the first time on the entire matter. "An admirable trait.."

Sawyer glared at him. "I don't need her to protect me," he stated. "I'm supposed to protect her.."

"She's afraid Ben will kill you.." Bernard finally admitted.

Sawyer was silent in response. She had voiced those fears to him multiple times when they'd been in the Dharma Initiative. She'd originally declined any type of relationship with him without telling him why, it took months before she opened up about Ben and his little obsession with her.

Rose tapped Sawyer lightly on the cheek. "You'll find her again, we're going to make sure of it.." she stated calmly. She looked over at Bernard. "Do you know where they went?"

Bernard nodded. "I heard them say they were going to take her to the medical station.."

"Well I'd say its time to go get the guns and give those sons of bitches in the medical station a surprisingly little howdy doody.." Sawyer stated.

**()()END()()**

**Ooooh boy. Go Sawyer! Sorry about this taking a little longer to get up. I had to babysit yesterday, and today my car broke down. I spent 3 hours at the auto-shop for them to explain it would cost me $650 to fix. Now I'm carless until later tonight. Not to mention poor.**


	10. When Others Attack!

**Author's Note**: Plot bunny alert! Plot bunny alert! The plot bunny brings you this special news bulletin.. here's your next chapter!

**All Over Again**: The Others!

_Three days later.._

"We got the guns, we got a plan," Sawyer stated to Kate and Jack. "Let's go say surprise."

Kate grabbed one of the guns from the marshal's case. "Let's hope this plan works," she stated with mild uncertainty. In three days the best thing they could come up with was to storm in and shoot anyone who gets in the way. Some plan..

"We might not need it," Jack stated, staring into the jungle.

"What are you talkin' about doc?" Sawyer questioned, following his eyes into the jungle. He stared in shock as Claire came wandering out with a bundle in her arms and Juliet by her side. "Son of a bitch.." he muttered out of shock.

Kate and Jack followed Sawyer over to them. Other people had started gathering as well, it wasn't as though none of them knew Claire was taken, or that none of them had watched Juliet dragged off into the jungle by the monster.

Charlie was next to her in an instant grinning down at the little baby, not even questioning why he had come earlier then last time.

Juliet glanced at all of the survivor's around them. Ben had given her orders once Ethan told him Claire had the baby early, for her to take the blonde back to her camp and gain some trust among the survivor's. He was specific about her talking to the doctor rather then anyone else because he was who Ben needed. She sighed, this was not a good plan.

Sawyer stared at Juliet, looking at all her scratches and bruises. But there was that coldness lurking behind her eyes again, and suddenly it hit him that she didn't remember anymore. Because if she did, those damned blue eyes wouldn't be hiding themselves from the world again.

Juliet watched as all eyes were now on her and she looked away quickly. Ben's plan was definitely flawed, she was just going to have to go back to the barracks. "I should go.." she whispered to Claire. "You'll be fine now."

Claire looked at her and frowned. Why didn't Juliet remember too? Why would she help her like this if she didn't remember? "No.. no, you should stay," she told her quickly. "Please?"

Sawyer felt himself drifting back in the crowd now.

Kate frowned as she watched Sawyer walk away. She sighed, stepping to the front. "I agree," she stated. "You should stay here with us, you helped Claire.."

"And it's dangerous out there," Jack pointed out. He watched as Juliet looked over at him and he frowned.

Juliet studied the man carefully. He was definitely the doctor. It was strange though, these people were all too willing to accept her, and some of them were looking at her as though they knew or, or had seen her before. "I'm sorry.." she stated, shaking her head.

There was something about the survivor's that she couldn't place. Something that made her unable to sit here and carry out what Ben wanted her to do. And it wasn't until she caught the eye of the conman, James Ford, that she felt some sense of familiarity there. No.. she couldn't do it. "I.. can't," she stated, turning and heading back into the jungle.

About two hours later Juliet still couldn't shake that nagging feeling that something bad was about to happen. She narrowed her eyes and paused, glancing around. Something was off.. but she ignored it anyways and took a step-forward. She let out a yelp as the net closed around her and she was brought up into the tree. "Damn it!!" she growled out.

Sawyer, Jack and Kate all stared as she got pulled up into the tree by one of Roussou's nets.

"Wow.. she's really uncoordinated, how many times can she get stuck in a tree?" Kate whispered to Jack.

Jack chuckled. "We better go get her down.."

Sawyer walked out into the clearing and stared up at her. "Need some help up there, blondie?"

Juliet glanced down and frowned. "What are you.. never mind, I honestly don't care what you're doing here.. yes," she stated with a roll of her eyes. "Guess I could use some help."

"Get ready to catch her," Jack stated, untying the rope that held her up.

Sawyer watched as the rope swung away and Juliet came flying down into his arms in the net. He chuckled at her sour face and put her down, helping her peel the net off. "Guess you shoulda' stayed on the beach, no nets to snatch you up over there."

Juliet narrowed her eyes at him. "Very funny.." she stated, but she nearly jumped when all three, Jack, Kate and Sawyer dropped to the ground. "What the.." she mumbled, until she watched Tom, Pickett and a few others come out from behind the trees.

"Nicely done, Juliet.." Tom stated with a grin. "Not gonna lie, I didn't think you'd get them to follow you so quickly."

Juliet was stunned, staring at the three people on the ground around her. "You got me caught in that net on purpose, didn't you?" she questioned out of annoyance, her hands going to her hips stubbornly.

Pickett chuckled.

Juliet rolled her eyes. "You guys are asses.." she muttered, watching as they each grabbed one of the survivor's. "What if they _hadn't_ been following me?"

"Guess we'd of had to cut you down ourselves," Tom said with a grin.

~*~*~*~

The next day, Juliet couldn't help but stare at the conman in the cages. He was pacing back and forth, definitely not happy about what was going on. She narrowed her eyes, watching as Carl got himself out of his cage and began letting Sawyer out of his. She sighed, shaking her head as Carl told him to go the opposite way he did. She would just have to cut him off..

She waited behind a tree and watched as Sawyer came running in her direction, but he stopped, turning to look back.

Sawyer stopped suddenly. If things went the way they did last time.. he needed to stop and go a different direction. Otherwise Juliet would be..

"Hey!"

Sawyer turned instantly, and found himself staring directly into those blue eyes. He knew what was coming next so he quickly ran forward, knocking the stunner from her hand as she brought it up and backed her against a tree.

Juliet froze merely out of shock. Considering he seemed to know what she was about to do to him, he was being surprisingly gentle towards her. At any time she was positive she could have just knocked him away from her, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She got that same feeling of familiarity that she did that first time on the beach. Now they were practically nose to nose.

Sawyer couldn't say he wasn't surprised that she just stood there staring right back at him with a look of clear bafflement. He didn't know why she remembered for that short time and then forgot, but maybe he could make her remember again. He was about to lean forward and simply kiss her for the hell of it when he felt the jolt go through him and he dropped.

"You okay, Julie?"

Juliet glanced over at Tom as he came over and nodded. "Yes," she answered, leaning over and picking up her tazer. She glanced down at Sawyer and frowned. She watched as Tom dragged Sawyer back towards the cages and she followed aimlessly. Had he been about to kiss her? Because it sure as hell seemed like that's what he was going to do. She watched as Tom threw him into the cage and relocked it.

She squatted down, studying him through the bars.

"Juliet.."

Juliet turned, glancing over as they brought Kate over and put her in the cage across from Sawyer. She narrowed her eyes at Pickett as he walked away and left the handcuffs on the woman. She stood, going over to the other cage. "Put your hands out.." she stated quietly. She watched as Kate did so and she pulled the key out of her pocket and took the cuffs off before studying her wrists.

"I'll be right back.." she told Kate. "I'll get you some antiseptic.."

Kate stared at her. Last time it was Tom who brought her out here, it was Tom who took her cuffs off, and it was Tom who offered to get her antiseptic. How much had they really changed already? It only seemed to be the little things.. because here they were back captured by the Others once again. She simply nodded in response and watched as Juliet walked away.

It was only a few minutes later when Juliet came back. "Here.. put your hands out again," she stated, and watched as Kate did as she asked. She quickly wiped down her wrists. "I'm sorry if this stings.."

Kate frowned at her. "You're not like them," she told the blonde. "You're not one of them.."

Juliet looked up at her and frowned in response. "I don't know what you're talking about," she replied, wrapping some gauze around her wrists and taping it together.

"Yes you do," Kate stated. "Look around, you've been nothing but nice," she pointed out. "You're nothing like them."

Juliet smiled sadly at the brunette. "Don't be so sure.." she stated, handing her the antiseptic. "You should hold onto this."

Kate watched as she walked away and she sighed. What was it going to take for them to get Juliet to remember?

**()()END()()**

**Ohh snap. It really is happening ALL over again!!**


	11. Memories

**Author's Note**: Okay. Hopefully this chapter will clear up the confusion for you guys on Juliet's memory. Yes, I did actually _forget_ that part in the previous chapter.. I kind of had a computer shut-down while I was writing. I didn't realize it hadn't auto-saved and.. yeah. It cut off and I wound up going to the beach part without rewriting it. My bad :(

**All Over Again**:

_Two Days Later.._

Ben glanced into the monitoring room and looked at Juliet watching the screens. "So, Tom and Danny say that you had another lapse in your memory before you brought Claire back to the survivors.."

Juliet glanced back at Ben in the doorway. Lapse in memory was putting it lightly, that was for certain. "It's not a lapse in my memory," she stated, narrowing her eyes. "It's whenever I go to sleep," she admitted. "I wake up and forget most of the day.. it doesn't make sense."

Ben nodded, leaning against the door. "You're a doctor, what do you think it is?"

Juliet resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I'm a _fertility_ doctor, Ben," she pointed out casually.

Ben shrugged. "Alright, I'll make you a deal," he stated.

Juliet arched an eyebrow up at him. "A deal?" she questioned.

"Yes, a deal," he repeated. "Colleen is needed elsewhere today, I need you to go keep an eye on our workers in her place out on the runway," he stated. "And while you're doing that, I'll go talk to the doctor we brought in and see if he can tell us anything about your memory problem."

Juliet was silent in response for a moment. "Alright," she agreed, standing up. She took the tazer that Ben held out to her and tucked it into the small of her back.

"Danny's getting Austen and Ford from the cages and bringing them out there, do me a favor and help him with that," he suggested.

Juliet simply nodded before heading out towards the cages. She watched as Colleen and Danny parted ways and she headed toward Danny.

"Welcome back to active duty, Julie," Danny stated with a chuckle.

Juliet forced a smile. "Oh, I'm thrilled," she said with a bit of sarcasm. "Let's just go."

Danny shrugged and headed towards the cages. "Work time," Danny stated, unlocking Sawyer's cage.

Juliet rolled her eyes and headed over to Kate's and unlocked hers as well. She locked eyes with the brunette for a moment before stepping aside and watching her walk out. Their previous conversation was still playing in her head even now.

"_You're not like them..." -- "You're not one of them.."_

She sighed and followed Danny who was marching the two off towards the runway with his rifle held ready. She watched as Sawyer stole a few glances back at her.

Danny noticed too and rammed the front of the rifle in his back, shoving him forward. "Keep your eyes ahead, she's off-limits," he told him.

Juliet arched an eyebrow up at him in response. "Excuse me?"

Danny shrugged.

"Thought you already had a girlfriend," Sawyer pointed out with a chuckle. He noticed Kate rolling her eyes in response and Juliet just seemed amused. "But hey.. if ya' really need two.."

Juliet snorted and covered her mouth to stop herself from laughing at his statement.

Danny smirked. "She's not mine," he admitted.

Juliet glared at him.

"But go ahead, try and make a move on her, Ben will probably just have you shot," Danny said with a grin. "Now get to work," he told them as they made it to the runway.

Juliet shook her head slightly in response and headed over to a few of the other people in their little 'family' from the barracks.

"You _still_ can't help but taunt him?" Kate questioned, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. "You're an idiot.."

"Gotta get amusement from somethin'," Sawyer stated with a grin as he grabbed the wheelbarrow.

"Do you think.. she really forgot?" Kate whispered. Glancing back at Juliet.

Sawyer glanced back at her too. "Yeah.." he answered honestly. "Something is wrong with her.. I just don't know what it is yet.."

Kate's eyes softened slightly. "But she _did_ remember.. does that mean we could all forget?"

"I hope not," Sawyer replied.

Kate knocked some of the rocks loose and frowned. "Why not?" she questioned. "Wouldn't it hurt less?"

Sawyer just smiled sadly. "It would.. but, then I wouldn't have those three years with her.." he admitted. "And that's the best three years of my life, whether she remembers or not."

Kate nodded.

Sawyer chucked a few more of the rocks into the wheelbarrow and hauled them over to the pile. After about two hours he paused, looking over at Juliet as she chatted with a guy and took a drink out of her water canteen. This was like deja vu, only this time things weren't going to go the exact same way.

He chuckled as the guy walked away and she was grinning. Then she looked over at him with an honest smile, the one he missed. He smirked, and couldn't help but to repeat the stupid little bow he did the last time too before turning. It took him a second to remember she was going to throw the canteen and he quickly reached his hands out and caught it.

Sawyer just smirked when she did the head tilt to the side to see what he would do. And he glanced back at Kate who was watching him with interest now. He shrugged to her and dropped the canteen on the ground, then watched as Juliet turned away. He sighed, walking forward immediately and grabbing Juliet, turning her back to him.

Juliet stared in shock as she was pulled back around. And before she knew it her arms were pinned against her side by his hands and his mouth was on hers. At first she was too shocked to know whether she should hit him or encourage him, but her body seemed to have a mind of its own as she responded to the kiss.

Kate raised an eyebrow up and suppressed a chuckle watching. Once upon a time, that had been her. But now it wasn't, and for once she didn't feel that sense of hatred towards the blonde as she looked on. She wondered if that was because Juliet was eagerly responding to the kiss without even knowing who Sawyer was, or if it was because she finally gave up on the idea of her and Sawyer.

Juliet finally managed to gain a little control over herself and she broke herself away just in time to watch Danny knock him to the ground with the butt of the rifle. She frowned, feeling slightly dizzy and stumbling backwards a little bit.

"Juliet?" Danny questioned with confusion.

Kate stared forward at the way Juliet faltered and nearly fell. Sawyer had been right.. something was definitely wrong.

"_I have the right to know _why_ you changed your mind!_" -- "_I changed my mind when I saw you look at her.._" -- "_I don't care who I looked at.. I'm with you._" -- "_And you would stay with me forever, if I let you.. and that's why I'll always love you._"

Juliet frowned.

Kate felt herself stepping forward and grabbing hold of Sawyer and checking on the cut on his forehead that Danny had left on him. She glanced up in time to see Juliet's hole body trembling, staring down at both her and Sawyer. There was a sudden flash of recognition in her eyes again, but Kate wasn't entirely sure what that meant.

"What's going on?" Richard questioned, heading over to the large group.

Danny frowned, waving his hand in front of Juliet's face. "I have no idea," he admitted.

Richard narrowed his eyes and glanced at Kate and Sawyer before looking at Juliet. He reached his arms out and grabbed hold of her when she fell forward and sighed.

"Don't.. wanna forget again.." she muttered.

Richard arched an eyebrow up at her in response. She must be remembering again, otherwise she wouldn't even know _what _she was forgetting. "Very well.." he stated quietly, lifting the blonde into his arms. "I'm taking her back, bring these two back to their cages," he ordered, nodding his head in Kate and Sawyer's direction.

He headed through part of the jungle away from the others and stood still for a moment, glancing around. "I'm alone," he stated to no one in particular.

"I see that," the man stated, walking out from behind a tree.

Juliet dared a glance over at whoever Richard spoke to and frowned. "Who is that?"

The man smiled. "Hello Juliet," he stated, offering her his hand as Richard placed her on her feet. "I'm Jacob."

Juliet felt her eyes widen slightly in response. As far as she knew, Ben had never even met Jacob.. so why would he come see her? "I don't.." she mumbled, shaking her head. She sighed, not taking his hand.

Richard stepped back slightly. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" he questioned.

Jacob glanced at him. "It's the only way she's going to remember fully," he explained casually. "You'll want to take her to Jack after this is over.. she's going to need a surgeon."

Richard frowned in response. What exactly did that mean?

Juliet narrowed her eyes in response.

"You want to remember, is that correct Juliet?" he asked her. "You want to remember and not wake up without the memories again?"

Juliet didn't step away as he took a step towards her. "And you can do that for me?" she questioned.

"It's going to hurt," Jacob told her honestly. "Remember the pain as you laid at the bottom of that ditch..?"

Juliet nodded.

"You'll be in exactly the same state once more," he told her. "_That_ is the only way for me to make you remember.."

"Why does everyone else remember?" she questioned. "Why don't they forget?"

Jacob smiled sadly. "Because, dear.. you said that you wanted to forget."

Juliet was silent in response.

"Is this what you want, to remember?" he questioned.

Juliet nodded.

Jacob was surprised that she would still say yes. He studied her face slightly and saw only the truth in her eyes. "Alright," he answered. He reached his hand out, placing it on her face.

Juliet felt her breath hitch as the pain overcame her.

Jacob watched as the bruising covered her body and she coughed blood that was now going down her chin. He hadn't thought she would truly agree to it, but if she hadn't, the memories coming and going would have eventually killed her anyways. He watched as her eyes glazed over and rolled back and she fell backwards into Richard's arms. "Take her back quickly.."

Richard simply nodded and lifted the blonde into his arms. He didn't hesitate running her through the jungle and out towards the cages where Kate and Sawyer now looked at him.

"What the hell happened to her?!" Sawyer growled out, gripping the bars on his cage. "Richard!!" he yelled at the man, watching as he ignored him and ran straight into the building.

Kate watched in shock, unable to form words as to what she'd just seen. She watched Sawyer stare at the buildings doors with such an utter look of fear that she felt pity for him. Juliet hadn't looked good at all. Was he going to lose her all over again?

**()()END()()**

**So. I'm sorry it's been a few days. I was hanging at the beach for labor day weekend. Apparently the server was down part of that time anyways. I'll update again tomorrow if I can! But I have to work until dinnertime tomorrow night. So.. there's no guarantee's. **


	12. Together

**Author's Note**: Well I know where I was all weekend and this week. But where did all of you guys go? Lucky for you I'm not spiteful about people pulling a Houdini these past two chapters.

Anyways. I'll be away this weekend for my birthday. I'll be back on Sunday! Hopefully you'll get a chapter that night. This chapter should clear up a LOT of things. But you may still have questions, and you can feel free to ask them! (This is a RE-Update.. some people had some problems opening up this chapter. So I removed it and updated it again.)

**All Over Again**:

_Cause when the sky's the darkest,_

_You can see the stars,_

_And when you fall the hardest,_

_You find how strong you are._

**Faith** by **Jordin Sparks**

Jack had actually found himself listening intently to Ben's recount of Juliet's memory problems. It explained a lot about her recent actions. He wondered, briefly, if the memory loss was triggered by the trauma of the fall, an aftershock of them blowing up the bomb. Nothing seemed at all strange when it came to this island anymore.

He did try his best try look remotely uninterested in his words though, but it didn't matter. Because it was clear to anyone the he'd always had some kind of soft spot for the blonde fertility doctor even the first time around. Not love, but there was at least friendship there.

But both him and Ben jumped to their feet when the door slammed open to his fish tank of a cell.

"What are you--" Ben halted, staring at Juliet in Richard's arms. "What happened?!"

Richard shook his head, about to speak when Jack came and pushed Ben aside.

Jack moved passed Ben and looked at Juliet. Her injuries were.. they appeared to be from a fall if he was looking correctly. He glanced at her shirt which had ridden up slightly and caught sight of her waist, showing him the ghastly bruising in the shape of chain links. Her injuries from the fall had come back.. was this how she'd been left down in the hole? Alive yet dying?

"Can you help her?" Ben questioned, staring at Jack who was studying Juliet intently.

"I can try," he answered, checking her pulse and finding it, but just barely.

"That's all we can ask for," Richard stated for Ben. "Follow me."

Jack followed Richard who was walking so fast you could almost call it running. He was following behind him quickly with Ben right beside him.

~*~*~*~

Kate watched as Richard went running from the doors of one building and into the one across from it. "Sawyer!"

Sawyer glanced up and looked over, watching the same as Kate. He was only mildly surprised when Jack came running behind him and Ben in the rear walking at a normal pace. It didn't stop him from worrying, but it at least made him feel better. Because it was Jack.. he liked to fix things.

"She'll be okay," Kate assured him. "Jack won't let her die.."

Sawyer just nodded, locking eyes with Ben. The look the other man was giving him wasn't something he could explain, but he assumed Ben must've known something about the past that he wasn't sharing yet. He gripped the bars on the cage as Ben disappeared into the building. "I wanted her to remember.." he muttered.

Kate frowned as she watched Sawyer's face. He looked a little defeated. Her eyes softened slightly as he let go of the bars and sat down. "Sawyer.."

"But every time she remembers something happens to her, just look around.." he stated. "She remembers on the beach and smoky the bear comes bellowing out of the jungle and whisks her away.." he pointed out. "And this time.."

"This time she remembered because she asked to remember."

Sawyer stood up immediately and looked at the man who stepped in front of him. "Who the hell are-- what the hell?"

Kate narrowed her eyes slightly. There was something familiar about the man that just started talking to Sawyer.

"You're the damned guy who--" Sawyer started.

"I'm Jacob," he finished for him. "And yes, I am that guy."

Sawyer frowned. "Jacob.. as in, the island's own little God?" he questioned.

Jacob arched an eyebrow up in slight amusement. "Far from God, actually," he answered. "I'll assume Juliet told you about me during your time in the Dharma Initiative."

Sawyer nodded mutely. How would he know that? "What do you mean she remembered cause she asked? I remember and I damn well never asked to."

"That's correct, you didn't," Jacob answered. "But, I also don't recall you saying you didn't _want_ to remember. Whereas, Juliet deemed she'd be better off having never met you."

"She still started remembering," Sawyer pointed out.

"Yes, she did," Jacob recalled _watching_ her remember, and forget. "Unfortunately, because she originally had chosen to forget.. every time she remembered, she was forced to forget again. She had to forget, because the memories were coming to life, they would have killed her."

Sawyer frowned. "So you're telling me the giant smoke monster took her to make her forget.. that Juliet just relived the damn fall into the Swan?"

Jacob smiled sadly. "Actually.. that was a test, to see that if she did remember everything, would she still risk herself for you.." he admitted. "And she did indeed pass with flying colors," he explained. "The _monster_ sometimes needs to check on certain people," he told him. "And Juliet has done a few questionable things in the past. And yes, when she requested to remember without the memory loss, she was put back into the state she was in after she fell."

"She's done what she had to," Sawyer defended. "She just wants to go home. We all just want to go home." He was still trying to understand about Juliet's state. "She was dead.. she fell, it was at least 50 feet.."

"Destiny won't always lead you where you want to go, James, and she was not dead," Jacob told him. "Juliet survived her fall, she survived because she was _meant_ to survive," he stated casually. "She was left with the choice to lay there and die, or carry out her destiny, to save all those that have died and give them a second chance.."

Sawyer studied the man's face. As far as he could tell, he was telling the truth. "What kind of destiny makes her go through all of that again?"

"Destiny is a fickle bitch, James," he concluded to the conman. "But rest assured.. she won't die, she's not meant to die," he explained. "Had she chosen to forget, she would have died," he told him. "The memories coming and going would be like those flashes through time you experienced, they would have killed her.

Sawyer was silent at first, feeding on all the information and letting it sink in. "You're saying Juliet saved all of us? That everyone that died before won't die this time?"

"I'm telling you, that now you know how to make your lives better," he pointed out. "Perhaps some of those people were meant to die, such as Goodwin.." he admitted. "Goodwin's death was and always will be necessary for Juliet to continue her resentment for Ben. Which remind me.."

Sawyer watched him carefully.

"You'll want to be careful, keep your eye on Ben," Jacob explained to him. "He will not hesitate to get rid of you, just as he did with Goodwin. He remembers his childhood, he remembers you and Juliet," he admitted.

"What makes you so sure he'll kill me?" Sawyer questioned, although he could tell already the man was stating the truth.

"Well, because he's killed many people, maybe not always by his own hands," he explained. "He's killed Goodwin, using first Ana Lucia, and now Ethan," he pointed out. "He killed John Locke with his own hands, and even me.."

Sawyer looked shocked by the statement, and he felt shocked by it as well. Ben, Juliet had claimed he was the 'almighty' follower of Jacob, regardless of having never met him. And here was Jacob, saying he'd been killed by the man. "You?" he questioned.

"Indeed, I have Juliet to thank for being alive again," Jacob stated and turned to leave, but he stopped and turned to look back at Sawyer. "When she recovers, if she tries to push you away and distance herself, don't believe anything she says," he told the other man. "She _will_ try to protect you again.. this time from Ben."

Sawyer frowned but he nodded in response.

Jacob turned to look at Kate. He smiled sadly at her and shook his head. "Well.. on the upside, I suppose you did stop stealing."

Kate watched in shock as he walked away.

Sawyer threw her a questionable look.

"Okay look.. I was eight, alright?" she muttered, putting her hands up in surrender.

Sawyer chuckled, regardless of the situation. When they both looked over for Jacob, he was simply gone.

~*~*~*~

After a week, hardly anyone came and went from the building. Jack had finally exited for the first time yesterday and was brought straight back across to the building he'd been in originally. Ben would come and go between buildings, but Richard and Juliet had never come out.

Sawyer only opened his eyes when he heard his cage door opening. He could only assume it was very early morning because the sun was just barely beginning to rise, and when he sat up he thought it was a dream. Because Juliet was coming towards him and sitting down in front of him. He wasn't entirely sure what to say to her, he could only look at the way her normally pale and flawless skin was riddled with healing cuts and bruises.

Juliet tilted her head to the side slightly and her eyes softened as Sawyer studied her with a look of uncertainty and guilt. She wasn't entirely sure how to feel at the moment. She didn't know if she was glad she remembered, that they were here together.. or if she was still worried about his feelings for her. But she felt guilty herself, for the words she spoke to him before she'd been pulled into the swan by those chains. "I'm sorry.." she finally admitted.

Sawyer frowned in response to her words. If what Jacob said was true, that she had relived the fall and received the same injuries, was it even possible for her to walk herself out of the building and be sitting here in front of him?

"I'm sorry for what I said to you.." Juliet clarified. "In the jungle.. I just.."

Sawyer shook his head. "You don't gotta apologize.." he told her, carefully placing his hand on her cheek and resting it there, it was his own attempt at proving she was really there, that she wasn't just a hallucination. "You had a right to say it.. I don't deserve you Juliet."

Juliet felt a piece of her heart break at his statement. No one had ever said anything like that to her before. "I didn't mean it," she encouraged. "I promise, I never meant it.."

"I love you," Sawyer stated softly. "But.. I guess love ain't always enough, is it?"

Juliet glanced away for a moment out of shame and guilt. "I guess it's not.." she answered.

Sawyer tried his best not to grimace at the vulnerability in her voice as she answered his question. He could see the different emotions crossing her face. The shame, the guilt, the sadness and the pain.

"I had a dream.." Juliet said after a few moments of silence. "The day the plane crashed again."

Sawyer waited silently for her to continue.

"It was the only thing I never forgot," she admitted. "And.. it seemed so strange, because I felt the pain of the chains.. and.. I was telling someone that I loved them, but I couldn't see their face.." she explained. "When I woke up.. it was like I'd just hit the bottom, and I looked and the bruises were there.. but when I looked again, they were gone. Just like your face.."

Sawyer wasn't entirely sure what to say.

Juliet leaned back against the bars of the cage and closed her eyes. "But.. everything felt so confusing," she admitted. "It didn't matter, the dream was always stuck in my head.. and I felt as though something was missing, something that I just couldn't recall."

"You know," Sawyer replied. "For the first couple minutes I didn't really remember either," he admitted. "The only things stuck in my head was a bomb and a pair of blue eyes that I didn't have a face for."

Juliet glanced down and studied him as he rested his head gently on her lap. She felt her hand automatically trail to his head as she ran her fingers through his now very short hair. "I miss your hair.." she admitted casually.

Sawyer chuckled in response and opened his eyes, looking directly up into her blue ones. "I think love is enough.. at least until we get out of here and can have more.." he stated.

Juliet smiled just a little down at him and tilted her head sideways. But it was a sad smile. "He'll never let me leave," she told him quietly.

Sawyer sat up moving his face closer to hers. "I'll never let him keep you here," he responded.

Juliet found only truth in his eyes and she felt it break down the wall that had erected when she saw him look at Kate. She leaned forward and captured his lips with his. They were safe for now with everyone sleeping and no one to see what was happening. Sure, Alex was watching the monitors.. but that teenager had admitted to her during a visit that she was remembering strange things. So she'd reciprocated to the girl. Her secret was in the hands of Alex at the moment.

"I love you," Sawyer told her once again when he finally pulled away.

Juliet smiled softly and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in the safety of the crook of his neck. "I love you back.." she whispered.

**()()END()()**

**Oooh. The reunion you all were waiting for!! Filled with confusion, guilt, shame, uncertainty, pure love, and a giant Jacob explanation! Prepare yourselves.. the next couple chapters MAY get intense.**


	13. Heartbreak

**Author's Note**: Ahaha! Found you all! Uhh.. this is a belated birthday present. I tried to get it up on Sunday, but I just never got the chance to finish it until now. And sorry for any missed errors.. it's 5am and I'm in desperate need of sleep. I have class at 11am :(

This one goes to **teh-Sara**.

**All Over Again**:

_I've had enough and this is the end,_

_And now I understand,_

_The heart breaks it does not bend._

_by **Valencia**_

After a few days of Juliet coming and going during the middle of the night, Sawyer was getting used to the routine. Sometimes she would stay for an hour, sometimes more, and sometimes less. Sometimes they would talk the entire time, and other times they spent the entire hour in silence, simply enjoying their time together.

There was still the unspoken line drawn between them from the incident just before she fell. Where they had fought and she had, in a sense, ended 'them'. They never really spoke about anything important, they only talked about before the incident. But he had that annoying feeling in the pit of his stomach that they couldn't just keep letting it go by them without speaking about it. They couldn't move on until they did.

He knew they needed a little bit of time to let it settle in that no matter what, they were right back where they started again. And they remembered, and Jacob was right, because this was their chance to make their lives better with a second chance. He wondered, if she hadn't ever remembered, would he have been able to make her fall in love with him all over again? Would he have tried? Or would he have simply give in to her wish, to have never met him?

Originally his plan was just to get her to the beach, get her away from Ben and the rest of the Others. But he'd had hope when she remembered and after that he just couldn't stop himself from continuing to go after her, he couldn't help but try to get her to remember again, and he had.. but at what cost? Her body had been practically broken from the net, the smoke monster, Ethan.. and then the fall. But she explained that it was the island that saved her, that people healed faster here then they would anywhere else.

At first he thought it was her coming towards his cage, but almost instantly he realized it was Alex instead.

"I turned them off," she admitted, studying the man in the cage. She noticed that Kate in the opposite cage was watching her as well but she ignored that. "I need to ask you something."

Sawyer narrowed his eyes slightly. The kid had a hell of a poker face, because he couldn't figure out if she remembered what Ben did to her or not, if she even remembered anything at all. "Alright Underdog, shoot."

Alex felt the smirk come across her face, she remembered the first time he said that. "You still want that basket?" she questioned jokingly.

Sawyer chuckled. That answered what he wondered. "That yer' question?"

"Funny," Alex stated with a roll of her eyes. "Actually, I wanted to know what kind of game you're playing with Juliet," she stated calmly, eying him with uncertainty.

Sawyer almost flinched at the accusatory tone of her voice. "What are you talking about?"

Alex sighed. She admitted it was strange to remember the old stuff and do all of this again, it hurt to remember and she almost wished she could forget it all. "Look.." she began, folding her arms across her chest. "I've read your file too ya know," she pointed out. "But Juliet, she's different from the rest of them," she admitted.

"I know that," Sawyer replied, still not entirely sure what the teenager was trying to insinuate.

Alex shook her head. "She's going to get hurt," she stated bluntly. "If she keeps coming out here like she has been and someone figures it out? They're gonna go straight to Ben. And he's not going to be very happy.."

Sawyer opened his mouth to speak when Juliet came walking from the direction of the 'runway' they were building.

"Alex," she hissed. "Ben's coming, scoot."

Alex stared at her, but before she could leave she watched Ben come out behind Juliet.

"Alex, what are you doing?" he questioned arching an eyebrow up.

Alex shrugged. "Wandering."

"Wandering around the prisoners?" Ben asked in obvious disbelief.

Alex smirked. "Actually, I was wandering everywhere, I just stopped here because Juliet asked me what I was doing too."

Ben threw a questioning look at Juliet.

Juliet shrugged her shoulders in response. "It's true."

He glanced between the two with a bit of uncertainty. "Very well," he stated. "Continue, let's go Juliet," he told her, putting a hand out in a gesture for her to continue onward.

Juliet nodded and continued heading towards the hydra. She managed not to look at Sawyer, Kate or Alex which relieved her because then Ben would have known something was up.

Alex watched as the two shut the door to the hydra and she glanced back at Sawyer.

Sawyer kept his eyes on Ben the entire time. He kept his eyes on Ben's hand which was on Juliet's lower back as though he thought it were necessary to keep her on the right track. And even when they disappeared into the building, his eyes didn't leave the door.

"Look," Alex began. "I can see that for whatever reason, you _do_ like her," she admitted. "I don't know, maybe she's right and you do love her," she stated. "But.. if you _really_ do, then you'll let her go.."

Sawyer turned his head back to her immediately. "What?"

Kate couldn't be silent anymore in response to that. "What do you mean he should let her go?" she questioned immediately. "Do you know how much he's gone through just to get her back?"

Alex turned to look at Kate. "My fath.. Ben," she corrected. "He's not even remotely the same man he was the first time around," she admitted. "He's gotten worse, and I don't know what happened after.. my death," she continued. "I don't know what he did.. but it changed him for the worse." She sighed, glancing back at Sawyer.

"I can't just let her go," he admitted.

"Then why did you help them blow up that bomb?" Alex questioned. "Juliet told me about it," she explained. "You thought you'd never crash, so you helped blow it up.. why would you do that if you didn't want to lose her?"

"I--"

"He didn't want to do it."

Everyone turned and glanced at Juliet coming towards the cages.

"I did," she stated to Alex who raised an eyebrow up at her in response. "And.. she's right James," she stated quietly.

Alex watched Juliet in shock. Something was up, because when she'd suggested this very same thing to Juliet, the blonde had flat out refused to stop seeing him. This had something to do with Ben, she had no doubt about that.

"What do you mean she's right?" Sawyer questioned, getting as close to her as he could through the bars.

"We're not supposed to be together, James," she answered, and although she kept her face emotionless it didn't matter, because her voice betrayed her look of unfeeling, it displayed the emotion that her face didn't. "I.. I wasn't wrong, we--"

"Stop," Sawyer stated, reaching out and grabbing her hand. "Why are you doing this now, Juliet?" he questioned. "First you say we aren't meant to be together, then you say you lied, now you're back to the former.." he stated.

"I just.." Juliet paused, her voice breaking in response. She glanced over as the doors to the hydra opened and Ben stepped out. "I'm sorry," she apologized, pulling her hand from his and stepping back. "I just can't.."

Sawyer watched her gaze and he looked at Ben standing over at the doors with a smile of satisfaction on his face. He glanced back at Juliet who was now studying the ground. "Don't let him control you again, Juliet," he told her. "He took your freedom once and you got it back, take it back again," he stated quietly.

Alex stared at Ben by the door and frowned. Why did he get so much satisfaction from tearing people apart? Why did he find it so easy to take away their happiness?

Kate watched in silence at the heartbreak covering Sawyer's face. She wanted to to yell at Juliet, condemn her for what she was doing because she'd done the same thing to Sawyer once. But she herself had done it for selfish reasons, and she knew that Juliet was doing this for him. She was doing it to save him from Ben. She had loved Sawyer when she needed to love him, whereas the blonde before her had loved him for him, not out of need.

Juliet closed her eyes and shook her head. "It's a little too late," she answered quietly in response. She stepped up to the bars and looked him in the eyes. "If he takes you away from me.. that's okay.." she admitted. "But.. if he kills you.."

Sawyer felt grief stricken. She still didn't mean what she said, that they weren't meant to be together. She was admitting that with her statement. She was saying good-bye to save him. He couldn't let her do that. "Juliet.."

"If he kills you.." she repeated. "Then I won't have anything left on this island that's worth having my freedom for," she admitted.

Sawyer reached out just as she was turning away from him and he pulled her against the bars, crashing his lips down on hers before she had time to react.

Kate stared in shock. She stole a glance at Ben who remained unmoving, whose smile never faltered in response to the kiss between Sawyer and Juliet. She knew why he was smiling about it too. He was smiling because he knew he was tearing them apart.

Juliet found her eyes opening a moment or two later when he finally pulled away and stepped back from the bars. "James.." she whispered, trying to reach out for him as he walked to the other side of the cage.

"Head back inside, Juliet," Ben ordered. "I think he got the message now."

Juliet didn't move for a full minute as she stared at Sawyer's back. She felt the tears threatening, but she didn't let them fall. She couldn't let them fall. She only looked down when she felt a hand on her shoulder and she saw Alex giving her a look of pity. So she sucked it up. Maybe remembering wasn't such a good idea after all. She wasn't sure it was worth it to remember and lose him again.

Sawyer stared at the trees behind the cage in silence for a few minutes before he heard two pairs of footsteps walking away from the front of the cage.

"James Ford.. Sawyer.. and Jim LaFleur," Ben's voice stated as he walked up to Sawyer's cage. "You have a lot of personalities, _James_," he said calmly, watching as Sawyer turned to look at him. "Though.. how you conned Juliet into falling for you, I'm not sure I'll _ever_ understand how you managed to pull that off."

Sawyer narrowed his eyes slightly.

"But I appreciate it all none the less," Ben stated with a shrug of his shoulders. "Because if she didn't love you, who would else would I have left to kill to get her to have some obedience?"

"You son of a bitch," Sawyer growled out.

Ben smiled. "You know, I learned a lesson about always keeping promises," he admitted. "There's always a way around them."

"What the hell are you talkin' about?" Sawyer questioned, heading over towards the bars where the other man was standing.

"Well," Ben began. "I may have promised her that if she stayed with me, I wouldn't kill you," he answered with a shrug. "But.. I never said I wouldn't have somebody else kill you."

Sawyer tried to reach out and grab Ben but he was already walking back towards the Hydra. "You son of a bitch!! Get back here!" he yelled out. "You hurt her and I swear I'll kill you!"

Kate looked on in a stunned silence. Ben was going to have someone else kill Sawyer. And Sawyer didn't care, he only cared that Juliet didn't get hurt. There had to be a way to talk to Juliet. There had to be a way to warn her that Ben was just going to have someone else kill Sawyer anyways. She just didn't know how to do it just yet.

**()()END()()**

**I apologize this is later then I said. I've been sick since the weekend. Never even got to go birthday celebrating. Combine that with classes.. and.. yes. I've been dwindling on my writing slightly. Sorry.**


	14. Selfless

**Author's Note**: This one definitely goes to D.D. Casale!! Thanks for all those lovely reviews, they truly made my day!

And I apologize for taking longer then I expected and told all of you it would take to get this chapter out. College is time-consuming.. Well, that and the fact I got totally engrossed in the Kathy Reichs books. Haha..

I figure since I wound up making myself a liar.. I told most of you it would only be a day or two til I updated, that I'd make this chapter longer! So here you go!

**All Over Again**:

_Why does love always feel like a battlefield?_

_-**Jordin Sparks**_

Juliet was walking passed the door to the monitoring room when she stopped because she heard him. When she heard Ben saying the unthinkable.

"Now.. listen to me Pickett, I did indeed promise that _I _would not kill Ford, but I did not promise someone else wouldn't," he stated casually.

"Are you telling me you want me to.."

"I want you to take care of this little problem," Ben admitted. "Tonight."

Juliet knew that she should have known better. And perhaps she had known better, but she had to at least try Ben's way to keep Sawyer safe. She had always done things Ben's way, even when she wasn't aware of it. Not this time, it was time to do things her own way. She turned on her heel and went back the direction she came from.

**~*~*~*~**

Kate glanced up as she heard the doors to the Hydra open up. She watched in silence as Juliet went walking passed their cages and she knew this was her chance to get her attention. "Juliet!" she hissed out, and watched as the blue eyes turned to her immediate. She admitted she was surprised that Juliet hadn't even attempted to ignore her.

Juliet halted and stared at Kate. She turned and glanced towards Sawyer who was currently looking anywhere but in her direction. She stepped over towards Kate's cage where the woman was waiting with her hands gripping the bars.

"Do you really trust Ben's word?" Kate questioned. "Do you really believe that he won't just kill us anyways regardless of what he told you."

Juliet hesitated for a moment to respond. "I do," she answered, her voice not betraying the disbelief that she was truly feeling.

Kate looked shocked and she knew it. Regardless, she couldn't seem to hide it. "Juliet.." she whispered. "You can't trust him, look what he's done," she told the other woman. There was a time where she openly admitted that she didn't like Juliet, but now she understood her. She understood that Juliet was just staying sane by the skin of her teeth in this place.

Juliet was silent in response before she turned her head and glanced back at Sawyer. He still wasn't looking at her and she couldn't help but wonder if any of this had ever truly been worth it if he couldn't even look at her.

Kate watched the hurt cross Juliet's features as Sawyer ignored her presence. "Juliet listen to me," she begged. "Just because Ben won't kill sawyer with his own hands doesn't mean he won't have someone else do it!" she stated, watching as Juliet turned to look back at her with tears in her eyes that weren't falling. And it hit her now, that Juliet knew this already, just by the look in her eyes.

"I know.." Juliet answered.

That caused Sawyer to look up instantly.

Kate frowned. There was a haunted look in the blue eyes before her that she'd seen before. The same look Juliet had on her face as she was holding onto Sawyer for her life at the Swan. It was a look that said she knew she was about to lose everything. "But you.."

"I'd die before I let anyone kill him," Juliet cut her off immediately before turning and heading towards the runway.

Kate left her mouth hanging open in shock.

"JULIET!" Sawyer growled out. "Juliet, damn it, come back here!"

Juliet halted immediately and turned to look back at him.

Sawyer could tell from the look in her eyes she hadn't appreciated the fact he'd practically ordered her to come back. He sighed, going to the end of the cage closest to her and gripping the bars. "Sorry," he muttered. "Please come back here," he rephrased.

Juliet's eyes softened slightly and she found herself glancing over at the doors to the Hydra where Alex was watching with curiosity. She was silent as she headed over to Sawyer and stood in front of him.

"I know what Ben is planning to do," he admitted, taking her hand in his through the bars. "I want you to promise that you aren't gonna go doing something stupid."

Juliet glanced down at their entwined fingers and frowned as she looked back up at him. "You know I can't do that.." she pointed out. She very well knew that he was only concerned for her safety, but she was also concerned for his. "I already told you, James.." she stated. "If he kills you.."

"And if I lose you I got nothin'," Sawyer admitted, cutting her off. "I already lost you a few times.. I can't do it again."

Juliet was silent for a moment as she studied him. She frowned because she knew that no matter what they did, they were fighting a losing battle against Ben. "I'd rather lose you," she admitted. "Then let you die trying to be with me."

"Juliet!"

Juliet turned immediately and pulled her hand from Sawyer's at hearing Tom's voice. "What's going on?" she questioned.

"It's Colleen, they're bringing her on a stretcher, one of the rifles misfired.. she's been shot, its bad Juliet.." Tom told her quickly. He ignored the fact he'd just seen her holding hands with the prisoner.

Juliet couldn't help the sudden sense of deja-vu that came along with his words. So she didn't hesitate in her next words. "The doctor, get him."

"Ethan's.."

"Not Ethan," she replied quickly, cutting him off. "Shepard, go get him, now." She frowned at the hesitation in his eyes. "I'm not a surgeon, Tom.. get him!"

Tom nodded and heading towards the hydra.

Juliet glanced at Sawyer for a moment before she ran towards the people emerging from the jungle with the stretcher. She quickly grabbed one side of the stretcher and used her free hand to put more pressure on the gunshot wound. She narrowed her eyes slightly and removed it, placing her fingers against Colleens neck. "Stop!" she ordered immediately. "Put her down! Put her down now!"

No one questioned it, they simply did as they were told.

Juliet knelt down immediately did a few compressions before she tilted the other blonde's head back and breathed into her mouth, ignoring Danny's voice as he came out yelling. She ignored everyone for a good two minutes as she continued.. compression.. compression.. breathe.. so on and so forth. And it was two minutes later when she heard Colleen's sharp intake of breath. "Go! Get her inside _now_!"

When she glanced down at the blood on her hands she felt herself take a slightly sharp intake of breath. She was going to be responsible for not being able to save Colleen once again, she just knew it.

"Juliet?" Danny piped up, noticing she wasn't following his wife into the station. "Hey!" he growled, waving his hand in front of her face.

Sawyer watched Juliet carefully as she looked up at Danny. He saw her glance towards him and then she pulled Danny close and whispered something that he couldn't quite make out. But he did see the shock on Danny's face in response to her words as he nodded. And she simply followed after Colleen's stretcher into the station.

He wisely knew he hadn't seen a look that cold on her face in a long time.

"I have no idea why she seems to like you so much," Danny growled out at him. "But just consider yourself lucky that Colleen's life is in her hands.."

Kate's eyes widened slightly in response. Would Juliet have honestly done what she was thinking about right now? Would Juliet have threatened to let Colleen die if Pickett tried to harm Sawyer? She found the answer in Sawyer's eyes as he watched Pickett retreat into the building as well. He thought she would, and that was enough for her to believe it as well.

~*~*~

They'd been at Colleen's surgery for a few hours. She knew very well that Jack didn't have to sit there and do this, and yet he sat there doing all the work, and she was left watching his handiwork in silence.

Jack followed her glance up to the window where Pickett left and only Tom remained behind the observation window. He nodded to Juliet. "I'll be fine on my own.." he assured her.

"Alright," Juliet responded, simply for show. She glanced up to Tom. "Keep an eye on him," she stated.

Tom nodded slowly. He didn't know what was going on, but clearly Juliet had a bone to pick with Pickett, because he left and now she was heading out as well.

A few minutes later and Juliet had her gun. She knew quite well as she reached behind her back and felt the gun tucked into her pants at her lower back, that Pickett would never keep his word once Colleen was out of the danger zone. If she was fast enough, she might not have to shoot him this time.

And so she was running, heading for the doors and she was out of them and into the down pouring rain almost immediately. And she saw Pickett heading for Sawyer's cage and getting ready to open it where he was fast asleep. And now she was running again, and she threw her shoulder full force into his back and knocked him to the ground, both of them rattling against Sawyer's cage in response.

Sawyer and Kate were up instantaneously from the noise and they both watched shell-shocked as Juliet was on Pickett's back, shoving his face into the mud and then suddenly it had reversed. Pickett had thrown his arm back and knocked his offender off of him. "Juliet!!" he called out immediately. He couldn't even get a hold on Danny because the man had already moved away from the bars and was heading towards Juliet.

Juliet was quick though and she swept her leg out, knocking Danny back down onto the ground.

Kate had looked on in shock for only a moment before the feeling of dread filled her. Sure, everyone knew that Juliet could hold her own in a fight, there was no doubt about it. But not now, not with all those fresh wounds still affecting the other woman.

Sawyer only caught Kate's movements out of the corner of his eyes and he nearly gasped when he realized what she was doing. Luckily he managed to keep it in, and neither Danny nor Juliet seemed aware of anything Kate was doing in her cage.

Juliet gave in finally, reaching back and pulling out the gun. But before she even managed to aim it, Danny had reached out and pulled her legs out from under her, and the gun went flying backwards. She was moving to get up when she noticed he now had a gun out and trained it on her.

Sawyer couldn't get his arms out far enough to stop Danny, and that sense of dread and fear was filling him just like the during the incident. Juliet was once again in danger for trying to save his life. "You son of a bitch! You came out here to shoot me, then do it!" Sawyer yelled out. "Leave her alone!"

Danny just grinned. "What're you gonna do to stop me from behind those bars?" he questioned, cocking the gun and keeping it level with Juliet's forehead.

Juliet sucked in a breath and stared into the barrel of the gun.

"You know, Ben might wanna keep you around Julie," Danny stated with a shrug. "But I think you're becoming more of a liability," he stated. "I think he'll thank me once he doesn't have to worry about you doing something stupid anymore."

Juliet was silent for a moment before she opened her mouth and spoke. Though she knew she'd probably regret pissing him off, she was never really one to hold back her opinion after she'd been with Sawyer for so long. "You know what I think Danny?"she questioned, all traces of fear and emotion leaving her face and voice.

Danny looked amused now. "What's that?" he questioned.

"I think you're a sick son of a bitch," she answered.

"Why you little--"

"I think that you obviously have no feelings, because someone who felt anything couldn't just come out here to shoot someone in cold blood, for absolutely no reason other then, 'Ben told me to,'" she stated casually. "Do you always just follow orders? Or just Ben's orders?" she questioned. And now she found herself taking a page out of Sawyer's book. "I think that makes you Ben's bitch.."

Sawyer was shocked, and if it weren't for the situation, he might have laughed at the words that came from her mouth. Despite being with her for three years, she hardly ever took after him and taunted people so easily, and yet here she was doing it to someone who wanted to kill her. Apparently she'd picked up his lingual skills just as well as he'd picked up her skills for sensitivity over three years. And regardless of what people thought, Juliet was more sensitive and caring then most, and she'd passed it on to him.

Apparently Danny was just as shocked because there was pure silence in response for over a minute after Juliet's words. At least until the sound of a gunshot fired through the air, and Sawyer felt his heart drop instantly.

**()()END()()**

**That might have been evil.. but, if you kill me.. you won't know what happened. Gee.. that sucks.**


	15. The Escape

**Author's Note**: Okay, since I left all of you at such an evil.. pivotal point at the end of that last chapter, I figure the least I can do is give you guys a quick update. Just in thanks for nobody you know, chopping off my head.

This one is for **Jennay**!

**All Over Again**:

_When your heart is beating black and blue,_

_The old worlds knocking down on you,_

_And you're starting to become unglued,_

_Don't go there, come on, I love you._

_**-Cyndi Lauper**_

_Bang_. Bang.

There was silence after the gunshot and Juliet sat wide-eyed on the ground as Danny fell backwards. She found her eyes glancing down at the tiny hole in the ground between her legs where Danny's gun had gone off as well. She found her blue eyes searching behind her now and she saw Kate, holding the gun out that Danny had knocked from her hands.

She locked eyes for a short moment with the brunette before she crawled forward and lifted the key off of Danny's dead body, not to mention his gun. She tucked the gun into her pants like she'd done with her own and opened the lock on Sawyer's cage.

"Jesus, Blondie.." Sawyer muttered, grabbing hold of Juliet and wrapping his arms around her. "You outta yer' damn mind, tauntin' him like that.."

Juliet smiled only a little in response. Whenever he got overly worried the southern accent came searing through in his words. "Learned that from you," she answered. "Now you know where the boats are, you and Kate need to get there and hurry," she told him, pulling out of his arms and turning away.

Sawyer was shell-shocked. "You expect me to go runnin' like a bat out of hell and just leave you here?" he questioned.

"Yes, because I won't be far behind," she answered cryptically, throwing him a warning look in response when his fingers snaked tightly around her wrist and stopped her.

Kate knew what Juliet meant. "Jack's still inside.."

"Exactly," Juliet responded casually. "Let me get Jack, James.." she told him. "And we'll meet you at the outriggers," she explained.

Sawyer frowned as he studied her intense look. She'd just been brushed by death once again, and there she was getting ready to risk herself for yet another person. "We'll come with you," he stated.

Kate was already nodding her head in agreement with Sawyer.

"No," Juliet answered. "If for some reason, something happens, who the hell is going to save my ass if you two get caught with me?" she questioned them. "Wait at the outriggers, and if I don't meet you there with Jack before a half an hour, then something happened."

Sawyer opened his mouth to speak but he never got the words out before Juliet's lips were on his. It was, and had always been, her way of ending an argument. And he'd be damned, but it worked on him every time.

Kate wanted to speak up, wanted to go get Jack herself.. but over time she'd learned from her mistakes. Whenever she went to help somebody, people got caught. Juliet had a better track record then herself, it would be safer to let Juliet save Jack, wouldn't it? "I'll get Jack," she interrupted.

Juliet pulled away from Sawyer and stared at her for a moment as though she were debating allowing her to do so. "You don't know where to look," she answered sadly. "I have to do this Kate, and.. and I'll get him back for you."

Kate pursed her lips together in response. Juliet was right.. she'd likely get lost trying to find Jack in those buildings, whereas Juliet knew exactly where to go. "Don't do anything stupid," she told the blonde and for the first time, she pulled her into a short embrace.

Juliet smiled a little in response, remembering when Jack had said that and she had, in fact, gone with Sawyer to do something stupid. Although they'd been meaningful in their attempts to save Jin, Bernard and Sayid, they had indeed been stupid. Stupid, yet successful. "I won't if you won't," she answered before giving one last look to Sawyer and heading for the doors.

Sawyer wanted to run, to stop her, but he knew that she wouldn't agree to stop. So he watched her disappear into the building, and then he followed Kate into the jungle.

"Lucky for us.. she left us her gun," Kate stated, waving it at him.

Sawyer rolled his eyes and took it out of her waving hand. Because the gun was _hers_, and if he held onto that, he was holding onto a piece of her.

~*~*~

"So she'll be alright?" Tom questioned as Jack stitched up Colleen.

Jack nodded. "She'll live," he answered, finishing the last stitch.

"I better go tell Ben," Tom stated, turning to leave. He stood in shock when he noticed Juliet in the doorway aiming a gun at him. "What the hell are you doin' Jules?" Tom questioned out of shock.

Juliet smiled sadly. "Come on, Jack," she stated, watching Jack stare at her.

"You lost your mind?" Tom questioned, his hand inching behind his back.

"Shit.." Jack muttered, swiping the metal tray that held the tools for surgery and smashing it against Tom's head just as Tom hit the button on his taser. He watched as both Tom and Juliet went down. He didn't hesitate to tear off the scrubs, lynch the taser into his pocket and then pull Juliet up into his arms. Fortunately he remembered the way out, and he ran for it.

He stopped short as he opened the door and Ben's daughter Alex and Richard were standing before him. He nearly backed up.

"Follow us, hurry, before someone notices what happened," Richard stated before turning and running with Alex by his side.

Jack glanced down at the unconscious blonde in his arms before he did as they said. Richard had made himself clear to be trustworthy thus far, he couldn't stop himself from trusting the man now.

~*~*~

Sawyer and Kate had just made it to the outriggers when they noticed Karl was already there, sitting on one as though he were waiting for them.

None of them spoke for a while as they sat in wait, but after just a little bit Sawyer finally opened his mouth. "How come you're just sitting here?" he questioned.

"Cause Alex told me to wait for her here," he answered with a shrug. "How'd you get free?" he asked curiously.

Sawyer shrugged, but he knew the kid was different, he could answer him honestly. "Juliet let us out.."

Karl nodded in response. "She let you guys run off and stayed with Jack again?" he questioned.

Sawyer went silent. Obviously this kid remembered the whole Jack and Juliet stage. And suddenly that nagging little voice went rampant inside his head. Had she gone back because she still had feelings for Jack?

"Oh," was Karl's response. "Sorry.."

Kate studied the expression on Sawyer's face and she frowned. It didn't take her long to realize exactly what he was feeling from the look on his face either. "Sawyer you know that's not why she went back," she corrected instantly. Or maybe she just hoped..

Karl dug holes in the sand with his feet. When Alex said that Juliet had openly admitted to being in love with the prisoner, he had automatically thought she had meant Jack..

Sawyer shook his head. Isn't this what had torn the two of them apart the last time? She had caught him looking at Kate, she had made assumptions.. Now she had gone back for Jack, and he was making assumptions? "I'm goin' back," he stated quickly.

"Sawyer, it hasn't been--"

"Yea' I _know_ what it ain't been, Freckles," he cut her off quickly. He halted when he turned around and watched as Richard and Alex came out of the foliage. Then he watched Jack carrying Juliet out. "Sonuvabitch," he growled out.

"She got tasered," Jack stated quickly, transferring Juliet from his own arms to Sawyer's carefully.

Sawyer glanced down at her, and obviously her transfer from Jack to him had stirred her, because her eyes were sliding open. "You alright?" he questioned worriedly. He already knew that the taser certainly hurt like a sonuvabitch, but he'd always been awake after it. Either that taser had been tuned up high to make her black out, or something else was wrong.

Juliet nodded mutely in response to the question, not entirely trusting her voice at the moment to come out correctly.

"All of you need to get out of here," Richard stated quickly. "Alex, I'm going to suggest you go with them this time," he told the teenager. "You and Karl will be safer with the survivors of 815 then anywhere else."

Alex nodded instantly.

"Be careful with her," Richard warned to Sawyer, speaking of Juliet. "She still remembers after that taser and that's a good sign, but anything worse could cause a relapse," he explained quickly. "And a relapse could kill her."

Sawyer stared at him in stunned silence before he looked down at Juliet. Had she known about that? If she had, why did she risk a relapse and death to save Jack? Karl's words were eating at him. _She let you guys run off and stayed with Jack again?_

"Now go," Richard ordered quickly. He watched them all get into the outriggers. Sawyer took Juliet into one, Alex and Karl had joined the two.

Kate and Jack had taken the other.

**()()END()()**

**So. There's the speed chapter for you guys! I'll try and get another one up tomorrow or the next day, sound good? No 'for certain' promises, but I am definitely going to try my best, because all of you readers and reviewers are wonderful!**


	16. Jealousy

**Author's Note**: Yes Jennay, I'm reading your mindset! That's how I knew you'd like those Cyndi Lauper lyrics! Ahaha. Actually, I just really love Cyndi Lauper.. not gonna lie.

Here's a longer chapter for you guys! (PS. I think these lyrics absolutely suite Juliet better then anything.)

**All Over Again**:

_And she would change everything, just ask her,_

_She would change everything for a happy ever after,_

_Caught in the in-between, a beautiful disaster,_

_But she just needs somebody to take her home._

_**-Jon Mclaughlin**_

For a few hours after they had reached the real island they'd all traveled in complete silence back towards the beach. Juliet was hanging back behind the rest of the group trying to regain her senses still after Tom had tasered her. Although she wasn't admitting it, she'd been feeling hazy on some details ever since, and Richard's words to Sawyer about a possible relapse were worrying her.

It took a moment before she realized that someone had spoken. And it took her another moment to realize that someone had been speaking to her. She glanced up to see that Sawyer had slowed down to walk beside her and he was studying her carefully. "What?" she questioned, both to his staring and whatever he'd said.

Sawyer frowned. "I asked if you were alright," he stated again. "You haven't said one word since we left the hydra.."

Juliet shrugged slightly. "Neither has anybody else," she stated simply.

Sawyer was silent for a moment. She had a point. "Juliet--"

"James, you've been looking between me and Jack for the past hour," she pointed out to him. "So I guess the question isn't whether I'm alright, but if you are."

Sawyer was surprised by the statement. She was right, of course, she usually was. They were coming up on the beach now. "Why would you risk sending your memories into a relapse to go save Jack?" he questioned quietly.

Juliet stopped short and stared at him. "What?" she questioned for a second time.

Sawyer watched her just as she studied him. Her expression was guarded, and he was hardly used to seeing it that way yet. "I just--"

"This is how you want to start things the second time around?" she questioned softly. "Insinuating that there's now something between me and Jack?" she asked him, her voice not displaying the pain she felt from his thoughts.

Sawyer knew she was right. "I never said there was," he pointed out. "Do you?" he asked.

"Do I what?" Juliet questioned, staring at him.

"Still have feelings for him?" he questioned in return.

Juliet stared at him with a look of disbelief. She said nothing as she shoved passed him and continued after the rest of the group onto the beach.

"Juliet!" Sawyer called out, mentally slapping himself on the head as he headed onto the beach after her and everyone else.

Kate watched as Juliet moved past all of them, past everyone on the beach as they were reuniting with everyone. She glanced at Sawyer and noticed as well, that he wasn't going after her. What had he done to piss her off this time?

Juliet took a seat up by the tree line and sat down in the shade, leaning her back against a tree and closing her eyes. Was this how their relationship would always be now that they were back with everyone else? Would it always be filled with jealousy that they couldn't contain? Was lovely really all they needed for now, or did they still need more then that?

Kate went over to Sawyer and stared at him. "You're really going to leave her sitting over there by herself now that you've finally gotten her back?" she questioned him. "What did you say to her, Sawyer?"

Sawyer was silent for a few minutes. "I asked her.. if she still had feelings for Jack.."

Kate almost couldn't believe it. Almost, but for some reason it didn't really surprise her as much as she thought it would. "What did she say?" she asked him with only a bit of uncertainty. As far as she could tell, Juliet's feelings her one hundred percent aimed towards Sawyer.

"She didn't say nothin'," he replied, glancing away. "She got pissed and walked off."

Kate nodded in silence.

Juliet opened her eyes when she heard a small thump in the sand next to her. She glanced over and couldn't help the surprise at seeing Walt sitting there beside her. For a long time the kid had frightened her to no end, but for some reason that fear had practically dissipated to nothing at this point.

"Know what's weird Ms. Juliet?" he asked her.

Juliet watched him. "What is, Walt?" she asked carefully. So he remembered her, and he still put the 'Miss' in front of her name as well. She remembered Ben had told the kid to call her 'Dr. Burke' but she had told him to call her Juliet. So he had gone for something in-between.

"I got to be a teenager," he stated simply.

Juliet chuckled and smiled at him. "Did you have fun?" she asked next.

Walt nodded. "What did you do?"

Juliet studied the ten year old. This was more then a slightly awkward conversation to have with a ten year old boy. But in a way.. he was more like, what? 13? 14? "A lot of things.." she answered cryptically."Abandoned the Others.. fell in love, got left behind, fell in love again.. died.."

Walt stared at her in disbelief. "You.. died?"

Juliet smiled sad at him. "Well.. not exactly," she answered.

Walt frowned. It was only now that he noticed all of the bruises that covered the normally flawless skin of the woman next to him. "Are you.. okay?" he asked, not questioning what she meant with the 'not exactly'. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what that meant.

"I will be," she answered him.

"Walt, get away from her," Michael stated, heading towards them.

Juliet shook her head slightly in response. Same old Michael. Did he not remember? Or did he, and that's why he didn't want his son near her?

"Why?" Walt questioned.

"It's okay Walt," she assured the boy. "He's right, you should stay away from me."

Both Walt and Michael stared at her now.

"Bad things happen around me," she explained with a shrug. "I probably shouldn't even be here."

Michael watched the woman in silence. When he'd been captured by the Others' she had openly told him that the only reason she stayed on this island was because Ben saved her sister.

"You know, Michael.." she stated, glancing up at the man. "Suddenly I'm not as sure as I was the last time around that all of this was really worth it.."

Michael felt his eyes softening slightly in response.

"Was it worth it to you?" she asked quietly, staring up at the man. She had once asked him, '_wouldn't you do anything to save Walt?_' and she had meant it. Because she had made a deal with Ben, the devil incarnate, to save her sister.

Michael glanced at his son before he looked back at Juliet. How long had she been here now? How many years had she been forced to spend in this place for saving her sister's life? "I think it was," he told her.

"Practically everyone on this island died by the time things were reset.." Juliet stated, closing her eyes. "Do you want to know how many people lived by the end? Out of everyone?" she questioned. "Maybe ten people.. give or take a few.."

Michael was filled with silence at the revelation.

"I thought.. if I blew up that bomb and reset things, that.. I don't know," she mumbled. "Maybe I just thought things would be different," she admitted. "But we're all here again, people are still dying.." she stated quietly, glancing at Sawyer across the beach. "I just wanted things to change."

Michael wasn't entirely sure how to respond to her. "Do you think it was worth it?" he asked her cautiously, deciding to take a seat in front of her now. He wasn't entirely sure why he found himself drawn into listening to her, but there was something about the pain in her expression that he found familiar. Almost as though she had given up hope.

"I thought so.." Juliet admitted, sighing and looking back at Michael. "But, suddenly I'm not sure it was at all.." she answered. "I didn't want to remember, to relive this all again.."

Michael figured he could understand that.

"Then I was given a choice.." she told him. "And.. I chose to remember in the end," she explained. "And now I don't think it was really worth it to remember."

"Why not?" Walt asked, cutting off whatever his father was going to say.

Juliet glanced at Walt and gave him a sad smile before glancing at Sawyer again.

Michael followed her gaze this time. "You love him?" he asked her curiously. The way she flinched almost made him regret asking. As far as he remembered the guy was a grade A ass-clown.

"Yes.." she answered honestly. She hadn't been this open with anybody in a long time unless it was Sawyer, it seemed odd to be talking to him about this but he didn't appear to be judging her for any of it. "I spent three years with him after the incident with the freighter. I guess I just thought I finally had something good on this island.. he changed, I changed.. we made changes together."

"So what did he do?" Michael questioned.

Juliet let out a soft chuckle. "Why do you assume it was him?" she asked carefully.

Michael shrugged.

"It wasn't just his fault, I suppose I just got jealous," she admitted. "I saw him look at Kate, and.. I don't know," she stated, running her fingers through her hair. "I guess it just didn't sit well with me. And I freaked out.. I decided I'd be better off never knowing him then losing him."

Michael felt some pity for her. He didn't blame her for what she thought, he'd seen a lot of Sawyer and Kate together when he'd been on the island the first time.

"And before we came back to the beach just a bit ago.. I went back and saved Jack," she stated quietly. "So he decided that I have feelings for Jack still."

Michael raised an eyebrow up and went to speak when he was cut off.

"Juliet.."

Juliet glanced up at Sawyer and locked eyes with him before she narrowed hers and looked away. "Let me guess," she stated. "Now I must have feelings for Michael?"

Sawyer flinched slightly at her words.

"Uh.. c'mon, Walt," Michael stated, pulling the boy to his feet and ushering him away.

Juliet stood now and turned to walked away from Sawyer when she felt his fingers coil around her wrist. She stopped and turned around, yanking her wrist from his hand. "Don't touch me," she growled out.

"Juliet, I---"

"I don't care," Juliet snapped. "I chose to remember for _you," _she pointed out. "I relived _all_ of that, the fall, EVERYTHING, so that I could be with _you_!" she admitted angrily. "How dare you insinuate that after I did that, that I still have feelings for Jack!"

Sawyer knew she was right. He was well aware that people were staring at them as Juliet yelled at him. He was even more aware of the fact that. He sighed, getting his hands on her shoulders and pulling her to him, wrapping his arms tight around her. "I'm sorry.. I screwed up, I know.."

Juliet shook her head, gripping his shirt in her balled up fists. "I hate this.." she muttered. "I hate this island.. I hate Ben, I hate fighting with you and I hate that I love you so much.."

Sawyer's eyes softened slightly at her words. "Jealousy sucks.." he muttered. "Now I know why you got pissed about.. what happened in the 70s.." he admitted.

Juliet frowned, burying her head in the crook of his neck. That was an understatement. She hadn't just been pissed. She'd felt herself shatter.

Sawyer frowned as well. He was well aware she was crying now and he sighed. "I'm sorry.." he told her again. "For everything, for looking at Kate.. for making you doubt me.." he admitted. "And I couldn't even save you.. then I sit here and point fingers."

Juliet shook her head. "James.. you couldn't have saved me," she told him, pulling back and putting her hands on either side of his face. "No one could have saved me, if I hadn't let go.. you would have fallen down that hatch with me."

Sawyer felt the tears welling up. "Then you shoulda' let me go down with you.." he told her. "It would have been better then seeing you fall.."

"I'm so sorry.." she stated, shaking her head.

"Its not your fault," Sawyer assured her. "None of this has been your fault," he told her, leaning forward and capturing her lips with his. "I love you.." he told her against her lips. "I love you and that's what matters to me.. that's all that matters."

Juliet pulled away and stared into his eyes. The proof was in them, the proof that he was telling the truth. She nodded her head before meeting his lips again. "I love you too.." she replied softly.

**()()END()()**

**Hmm.. let's see where the next chapter brings us. I figured they needed to finally delve into their feelings though. Into what happened before the bomb, with the bomb.. all the jealousy. Cheers!**


	17. SideEffects

**Author's Note**: So, I wrote a lot of this during my English class. Considering my professor is such a snooze and relates nothing during our class about grammar, spelling and writing papers, I made better use of my time rather then listening to him chat about watching live opera from a movie theater. (Gee. How exciting.)

I also perfected my flower doodling skills.

Anyways. Here's the next chapter! (And yes, I took some time to study up on the effects of people who get tasered. So I did get SOME information rather then just making all this up myself. So although I did make up parts of Juliet's problems in this chapter, most of what I said about the taser is true.)

**All Over Again**:

The next morning Juliet felt like something more was wrong then she had the day before. She was dizzy, everything was a practically a blur to her. The ringing inside her head was driving her insane and her whole body was tingling, felt like it was on fire. She felt a lot of the details of the past few weeks getting hazy. And things before that felt like far off memories from a long time ago. Could she being going into that relapse that Richard had spoke of?

She put her hand to her head and frowned before glancing down at Sawyer beside her. She was quick and quiet as she slipped out of the make-shift tent on the beach unnoticed by the sleeping conman. She had to admit that she was relieved to see that Jack was awake and sitting down by the water.

"Jack," she called his name, taking a seat beside him.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Jack questioned, taking in the fading bruises on the blonde's pale skin. The black and blue marks were now fading to a sickly yellow and ghastly brown color and her cuts were fading to slight indiscretions on her skin.

Juliet smiled sadly at him. "Maybe you could tell me," she suggested. "Everything is getting a bit hazy on me.."

Jack was silent for a moment as he thought about what she was telling him. "Was it like that before you got tasered?" he asked next. At the shake of her head he frowned. "Any other problems?" he asked now.

"A little bit dizzy," she answered. "I keep thinking I should know what's wrong, I'm a doctor.. but my head's spinning, I have this ringing sound that won't go away.. and I just can't think straight. Everything feels off.. my body just feels.. I don't know, it's bothersome.."

Jack was silent for yet another moment as he let her words sink in. "What else is wrong?" he questioned. There was a look of loss on her face at the moment that was bothering him more then everything she just told him.

"My sister.. Rachel," she answered quietly. "I had a dream about her, but I couldn't see her face at all," she began. "And now.. I keep trying but her face is a blur, a lot of things are just a blur, like they're all distant memories that are too far out of reach to grasp.. it bothers me that I can't remember my own sister.."

Jack felt sorry for her. After all that she'd been put through on this island, this was that last thing she deserved. "It's natural to her memory repression after traumatic events," he clarified for her. "You should be fine as long as you keep resting and stop exerting yourself, my best guess is that the electrical jolt from the taser may have caused your mind to relive the events of a traumatic experience, such as the incident at the Swan.."

Juliet was silent as she listened to his words.

"Memory repression is the minds way of healing itself, it's trying to protect you from the trauma by locking certain things away.. it's kind of a like a healing process," he explained.

"Are you sure?" she questioned, although she had nodded her head in response.

Jack didn't answer at first. "No," he answered honestly. "There's no way for me to know the exact problem, but that's the most likely scenario."

"The most likely, or the best likely?" Juliet questioned in response.

"A little of both I suppose," Jack replied.

Juliet sighed. "What's the worst-case scenario?" she dared to ask.

Jack studied her expression for a moment, but it was blank. He wasn't sure if he envied her or not for her skills in masking her emotions from the world. The fact that after all this time she could still revert back to her old self was almost bothersome. "Besides what Richard said?"

Juliet nodded.

Jack wasn't entirely sure if he should tell her. But he knew that he had to. "Richard's is the worst case, in all senses.. but," he began. "On a person in good health, a taser only has minimal side effects for a short amount of time."

Juliet glanced away. Good health wasn't exactly something that explained her at the moment. "And for someone whose.. not in such good shape?"

Jack watched as she stared out at the water. "I don't think I should--"

"Jack, just tell me," she snapped out, cutting him off quickly.

Jack sighed. "In good health, the short-term effects only last minutes, the effects are things that you've named as having today," he pointed out. "Daze, short-term amnesia, tingling sensations, and vertigo."

Juliet frowned. "Vertigo?" she questioned. Although the term seemed familiar, she couldn't seem to place what it meant.

"Dizziness, a sense of unbalance," he quickly explained. He was well aware she should know what it meant.

Juliet's frown deepened. "And all of this should be short-term?"

"It should have gone away after just a few minutes.. maybe a half hour maximum.."

Juliet closed her eyes, willing herself not to let tears fall. "Do you think.. it's permanent?"

"It's erratic," Jack admitted. "There's no way I can know for sure," he told her.

Juliet nodded her head slightly one more time before standing up. "Thanks, Jack, for being honest with me."

"Juliet," Jack called quickly, reaching out and grabbing her hand. "If this gets any worse, you need to come tell me immediately.."

Juliet glanced down at their hands and quickly pulled hers away. "I will," she responded and turned around in time to see Sawyer staring at them, his expression unreadable. Yet she could tell right away that he wasn't entirely sure what to think about what he'd just seen.

She sighed and headed over towards him, stopping to stand in front of him. "James.. that wasn't--"

"I believe you," he responded before she could even finish her statement.

Juliet felt her head ringing worse then it had been before. She frowned in response and shook her head. "No, James.. you don't believe me," she stated, her voice emotionless. "The least you could do is tell me the truth and not lie to my face.."

Sawyer was silent for a moment in response. He already knew that no matter what he said, if he lied or told the truth that she was going to be offended.

Juliet watched as he debated on what to say. She was about to give in and explain what he'd seen, about Jack grabbing her hand, but she clamped her mouth shut as he turned and walked away from her. She let out a breath of frustration as he left. Maybe it was for the best if she didn't tell him anyways, it was probably nothing. She would be fine.

Scratch the idea, she decided quickly. She had to tell him, he deserved to know the truth regardless. "Ja..mes.." she muttered. But her voice sounded like a sloth of nothingness to her. The ringing was getting worse. Her head was pounding and everything was spinning in circles suddenly and she wasn't sure where she was or what was happening.

Sawyer turned immediately at the strange sound of her voice. His name had sounded slurred from her and as he turned to look at her, the way her eyes glazed over scared him more then anything else. "Juliet?" he questioned, going back to her side immediately. She wasn't moving, her eyes weren't blinking, she was just staring at nothing, into nothing. "Juliet, Juliet look at me," he told her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

The words that he heard from her next were slurred as well, her voice fringed with emotion and tacked with fear.

"We're.. gun-na die.."

Sawyer stared at her, and he watched as Jack came running over at the commotion he called.

"What happened?" he asked quickly.

"I.. I don't know," he answered honestly. "One minute I turned my back, the next minute she's slurring her words and staring at nothing with a dazed look.."

Jack was a lot more worried now. He didn't know if this was the 'relapse' or if this is the effects the taser was having on her unhealthy body.

"He told me.." she whispered.

Sawyer stared her dead in the eyes. But it only seemed like she was looking past him. "Who told you, Juliet?" he asked her. "And what did he tell you?"

"The man.." she answered. "The man from Tallahassee.." she informed him. "He told me.. that we'll all die.."

Only silence came as a response from Sawyer and Jack.

"I think.." she murmurred, leaning forward and resting her forehead against Sawyer's shoulder. "He's wrong.."

Sawyer stared down at her, but he wrapped his arms around her nonetheless. "Why?" he asked.

"Because.. because most of us are already dead.."

Sawyer grabbed her tighter as her knees buckled and her eyes rolled up into the back of her head. "Jesus.." he muttered.

"She's delirious.." Jack assured him. "She was telling me before that she was hearing a ringing in her head, her body was tingling.. she was dizzy, and some of her memory was a little fuzzy.." he explained. "I told her to tell me if things got worse.." he admitted.

Sawyer now understood why Jack had grabbed Juliet's hand. It hadn't been a sign of affection. It had been for comfort. "Will she.. be okay?" he questioned immediately.

Jack was silent as he contemplated the question. Because in all honesty, he didn't know the answer to it. "I don't know, Sawyer.. I really don't know.." he answered. "The only thing I can suggest is that we make sure she keeps resting, my guess.. it _seems_, is that this is triggered when her emotions are running high.." he explained. "But I don't know for sure, she was worried, like about what Richard said about the relapse, and all these symptoms occurred."

Sawyer nodded. If that was the case, did that mean it was his fault that she'd just gone into the state of delirium that she had?

There was something else that bothered him about her delirious outburst as well. What had she meant when she said, 'because most of us are already dead'?

**()()To be Cont.()()**

**That little TBC instead of the was for eyeon's sake. I apparently cause potential worry when I put the. Ahahaha. So there you go! I'll try for yet another chapter tomorrow night, sound like a deal?**


	18. The Gift

**Author's Note**: Okay! I hope this chapter is up quick enough for you guys! I'm doing my absolute best here! And despite the fact I got a new book, look, I STILL decided to write for you guys first before reading! Cheers!

**All Over Again**:

_Don't know how I would survive,_

_Without you in my life._

_**-Jann Arden**_

There was pure silence when Juliet opened her eyes. She already felt the protective arms wrapped around her and she turned over and looked at Sawyer's sleeping features. She couldn't remember what had happened. One minute she'd been fighting with him, and the next everything went blank. She reached her hand out and placed it gently on the side of his face. "James.."

His eyes opened immediately. "Juliet.." he whispered before sitting up and pulling her onto his lap and wrapping his arms around her once again. All he needed to fully wake up was see her there looking at him. "Jesus.. it's been three days," he muttered.

"What?" Juliet questioned. "Three days?"

Sawyer was silent. She didn't remember it. She'd already woken up a few times in the past three days, and every time she was ranting about 'the man from Tallahassee' or how they were 'all going to die'. This was the first time he'd heard her speak out of the delirium. "You don't remember.." he stated.

Juliet shook her head while it was buried in the crook of his neck. "I only remember.. well, I know we were about to fight," she stated. "I just remember trying to call you back, but my voice didn't want to cooperate.."

"You don't remember anything you said after that?" he questioned.

Juliet shook her head again. "No.. everything is a blank until I woke up just now.."

Sawyer pulled back from her and studied her expression. "Juliet, who's 'the man from Tallahassee'?" he questioned.

Juliet was silent for a moment as she thought about his question. She wasn't sure if she should tell him.

"Juliet.." he stated, watching her thoughtful look.

Juliet remained silent now. She couldn't tell him.

"Juliet, dammit.."

"Anthony Cooper.." she answered quickly.

Sawyer was silent now.

"The man from Tallahassee.. is Anthony Cooper.. is Tom Sawyer.." she told him immediately, covering her face with her hands.

Sawyer stared at her in shock. Her delirious ramblings had been about the man who killed his parents.

"That was.. the first time around, James," she assured him. "I didn't even know who he was the first time.. not until you and I discussed in.."

Sawyer nodded slightly. "Did he tell you.. we were all going to die?"

Juliet nodded. "Yes.." she answered honestly.

Sawyer raised an eyebrow up at her. "Alright.. Juliet, you gotta think about this one, ok?"

Juliet watched his expression carefully. These were all things that she'd said over the past few days? She remembered everything else so clearly now, unlike before she'd apparently gone.

"You said that you thought he was wrong, because most of us were already dead.." Sawyer explained quietly, watching the look of confusion on her face grow.

"I said that?" she questioned.

Sawyer nodded slightly.

"I don't.." Juliet paused. That ringing in her head was coming back again. Everything was starting to spin once more and as she looked at Sawyer's face it was all becoming a blur to her. She could barely make out the outline of his face. "Some...thing's wrong.." she managed to mumble out, her speech slurring again.

"Son of a bitch!" he growled out. He quickly moved out of the tent. He was about to yell for Jack when that man Jacob stepped into his line of vision. He was stunned for a moment as he stared at the man.

"Where is she?" he questioned, noting the look of worry on his face.

Sawyer nodded his head to his tent and allowed the man to go inside, then followed behind him and took a seat beside Juliet.

Juliet felt almost numb. She felt empty as she stared at the outline of one person and then another. Everything was coming in a bit cleared now and she stared into the eyes of the one man. "You.." she murmured.

Jacob smiled sadly at her.

"You're.. dead.." she told him. As she looked at Sawyer, his face was still unclear to her.

"As are you, my dear.. as are you," he told her. "Or, we were, at one point, at least close to it.." he assured her.

Juliet stared at him.

Jacob glanced at Sawyer. "What do you see when you look at this man?" he questioned.

Juliet narrowed her eyes, and squinted as she looked at Sawyer. "I don't.. I can't," she explained. "He's a blur.."

"What's happening to her?" Sawyer questioned. For the passed three minutes the two had been staring at one another, until Juliet had looked at him. Almost as though they were conversing, and yet.. her heard nothing from either of them.

Jacob glanced back at Sawyer and raised a hand to silence him before looking back to Juliet. "You have an.. uncanny ability it seems," he told her. "To see the faces of the dying, and not the faces of those who are safe.."

Juliet stared at him, speechless. "What if.. I don't want it?" she asked him, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I'm not sure the gift is able to be taken back," he explained. "This island is special, it gives gifts to those who need it," he explained. "Your gift, I haven't seen that in a long.. long time," he admitted. "You can see the faces clearly of those who will die."

Juliet was silent. "What if.. what I want to see, I can't see..?" she asked next.

Jacob smiled now. "What do you want to see so badly?"

Juliet glanced over at Sawyer's silhouette.

"I see," Jacob answered. "Many gifts are given on this island, even if we don't know it," he told her. "Richard was given the uncanny gift of never aging," he explained. "These gifts are given for a purpose," he assured her. "Just as you've been given this gift, there is a reason for it.."

Juliet was silent.

"Your blackouts, everything, it's your body adjusting to this gift, and given some time, you'll see everything again," he assured her. "Once you've used this gift for what's needed, you won't have it any longer. _Then_ you will be able to see clearly again."

Juliet didn't want to know these things. "Why me?" she squeaked.

Jacob smiled sadly. "You're the variable, my dear.." he explained. "You're the one person on this island that can still save these people," he admitted.

"How can I save what I can't see?" she asked.

Jacob grinned. "That's the beauty of it.. you only need to save what you _can_ see."

Juliet found herself uncertain. "I can see you.." she explained.

Jacob smiled now. "Yes, you can," he stated. "But you already saved me."

"How?" she questioned immediately. None of this made sense to her.

Jacob chuckled. "I was dying, or dead.. I can't recall now," he admitted. "But it was by your hand that I lived again. You see, you saved me that day."

"I can.. only see faces," she noted to him. "Everything else is blurry."

Jacob lifted an eyebrow in response. "You cannot see anything else at all?" he questioned. At the shake of her head he found himself frowning. "It seems your gift also wishes to prove a point to you," he explained. "You'll need to allow yourself to rely on other people this time around."

Juliet was silent for a moment.

"Now then," he stated. "When you wake up, you shouldn't need to adjust to this gift any longer," he told her.

"When I wake up?" she questioned.

Jacob nodded before reaching out to touch her face.

"Wait!" Juliet stated quickly, and watched as he paused.

"Yes?" he questioned.

"Richard's been like this for maybe a hundred years or more," she stated quickly.

"Well.. let's hope it doesn't take you so long," he stated before touching her face. He watched as her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and the man, Sawyer, grabbed hold of her quickly as she drooped to the side.

"What'd you do?!" he asked quickly.

Jacob stared at him. "She's going to need your help," he told him carefully.

Sawyer stared at him in stunned silence.

"And she's going to try and push you away, she won't want your help," he explained. "But she _needs_ you, and do not let her tell you otherwise," he stated. "This is where you heed my warning not to listen to anything horrible she may say to you.."

Sawyer eyed him warily. "I don't understand.."

Jacob smiled sadly. "You will soon.." he admitted. "Stay by her side, because if she goes through this alone, she'll surely die.."

Sawyer was shocked into nodding his head.

"You're a good man," Jacob stated with a nod. "I was right in choosing you."

"Choosing me for what?" Sawyer asked immediately.

Jacob smiled as he stood. "Well.. I had to help fate choose someone to help her lead the people on this island to safety," he answered. "Fate chose Jack, but I chose you."

Sawyer opened his mouth to reply, but he closed it again. When he opened it again he wasn't sure about anything. "You're saying I'm with her because you made me?"

"Of course not," Jacob answered. "Fate is _never_ a certainty. We're all here are we not?" he questioned. "All these people that have died, almost died, myself and Juliet included," he explained now. "We're all here again because she was the variable fate never expected."

Sawyer was silent now as he listened to the man.

"Fate chooses people, people choose whether or not to agree with it," he stated cryptically.

"So you're saying that you're fate?" Sawyer questioned now.

"Far from it," Jacob assured him. "But occasionally I find it necessary to interfere with fate's plans, and that is my gift."

Sawyer was silent now. "How do you do that?"

"With a simple touch," Jacob explained, holding out his hand. "I altered the fate of eight people," he explained. "Juliet's fate was never altered until that day on Hydra Island, I simply altered the fate of her memories. In fact, Juliet never had a fate."

Sawyer watched him, studied him, wondering if he even believed the truth in the man's words. And for some reason, he did.

"Juliet is different.." he admitted. "Her choices, they are always her own," he told Sawyer next. "Fate gave her Jack, and yet.. she chose you." He smiled now. "Just as fate gave you Kate."

Sawyer narrowed his eyes. "Kate can't be given," he told him.

"She can," Jacob explained. "I gave Kate, Jack," he explained.

"So who'd you give me?" Sawyer asked next.

Jacob found himself smiling again. "That's what you'd like to know?" he asked him. "The thing is, you have no fate either."

"Fate gave you Kate, and you chose Juliet," he explained. "Ironic that two people who are without fate, wind up finding each other," he admitted.

"But you said that fate gave her Jack, and _you_ chose me," Sawyer pointed out.

"Indeed I did," Jacob replied cryptically. "And as I said.. I am not fate."

Sawyer frowned as he glanced down at Juliet. He swiped some hair out of her face and glanced at her. Where had all of her bruises gone? "You're not making any---" he paused and looked up, noticing Jacob was gone, just like the last time at the cages. "Sense.." he muttered. How did the man alter his fate, if he didn't have one?

**()()TBC()()**

**This was such an odd thing for me! I have no idea where the idea came from but I just completely changed where I was heading with this story in ONE chapter. Hot damn.. it's amazing how that can work.**

**For anyone wondering. 'The Man From Tallahassee' was a season 3 episode, in case you forgot. When Locke has Alex in Ben's closet and Ben tells Richard to get him the 'man from Tallahassee'. I'm almost positive that was a reference to Locke's father: Anthony Cooper, AKA 'Tom Sawyer'. I'm basing the assumption that Cooper had been there for a bit. And Juliet seems to be the primary caretaker for prisoners, is she not? So 'the man from Tallahassee' is Locke's dad. :) Hope that clears things up.**


	19. Hostility

**Author's Note**: I apologize for my weekend disappearance. My internet's been down since the last update. So any reviews I never replied to, I apologize for that as well.

**All Over Again**:

_Let me be empty,_

_And weightless and maybe,_

_I'll find some peace tonight._

_**-Sarah McLaughlin**_

Sawyer had been sitting in silence as he tried to figure out what to do. Juliet was back to her state of unconsciousness for the past four hours and he wasn't entirely sure how to explain to anyone what had happened. Had it happened? Maybe he'd simply imagined Jacob, but if that was true, where had all of Juliet's scrapes and bruises gone?

"James.."

Sawyer turned and stared at Juliet who was now sitting up with her eyes closed. "Hey.." he returned quietly, inching closer to her. He put his hand on the side of her face when he noticed her body was shaking. There were a few stray tears going down her cheeks and he quickly wiped them away. "Relax.. I'm here," he told her calmly.

"I wasn't sure if you were.." she replied, her voice sounding distraught.

Sawyer chuckled. "Open your eyes and you'd know I was here," he pointed out. When she did he nearly jumped away from her in surprise. Her eyes were as bright blue as they always were but with one thing missing. She had no pupils. "Sonuvabitch.." he muttered out quickly.

Juliet supposed it was a good thing that she couldn't see Sawyer. If she could that would mean that he was either in danger or.. or saved. How was she suppose to know which was which? How did she even know if Jacob was telling the truth.

"Can you--"

"No," Juliet answered, cutting him off immediately. She put her head in her hands and took a deep, shaky breath. "Can't see anything at all.."

Sawyer frowned, studying her reaction. The image of her eyes was practically a burned image into his brain now that he couldn't get rid of. "I better go get Jack, wait here."

"There's nothing he can do," Juliet told him quietly. "And where would I go anyways?" she questioned. "I can't even see to go anywhere."

Sawyer let out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding. He couldn't blame her for getting snippy with him. "Can't hurt to get Jack to take a look," he muttered.

"Right," Juliet scoffed. "So let me get this straight, first I'm not allowed to go anywhere near Jack because you're self-consciousness goes haywire and therefore I must have a thing for him still, and now I need to sit here so you can go get Jack to stare into my eyes?" she questioned. "Well yippy," she stated sarcastically.

Sawyer frowned.

"_And she's going to try and push you away, she won't want your help." -- "But she needs you, and do not let her tell you otherwise."_

"Don't try and push me away here, Juliet," he told her, kneeling back down beside her and cupping her face in between his hands. "Cause I ain't goin' nowhere."

Juliet opened her eyes once more and stared at where she assumed his face was at this point. She felt his lips cover hers momentarily and it made her senses tingle. She wondered if that was because she couldn't see, or if maybe that had always happened, and it took the loss of her eyesight to notice.

She listened carefully as his footsteps exited the tent through the sand and she sat quietly for a moment inside. She put her hand out in front of her face and frowned. Nothing was there. She sighed before she shakily pushed herself onto her feet. It was awkward, trying to keep balanced without her eyes to guide her. And it took a minute to get her bearings as she stumbled slowly out of the tent and onto the beach with everyone else.

She had to catch her breath as she stared, looking everywhere and yet nowhere as she saw absolutely nothing. She closed her eyes, attempting to once again balance herself but she felt herself swaying nonetheless. Amazing how you could never realize how much you truly relied on the eyes until you were without them.

"You okay?" came the voice. "You look a little, like.. shaky, Juliet.."

Juliet tried to match the voice to a face and after a moment in rang through her head. It was clearly Hurley. "I'm fine.." she answered without opening her eyes. Of course, his question seemed to have attracted a bit of attention because she could here footsteps coming towards her. She could hear whispers between people, though she couldn't make out what they were saying. At least until one in particular shone through.

"Jesus," Sawyer growled out with Jack and Kate following behind him. "You losin' yer' mind, blondie?" he questioned as he put his hands on her shoulders to balance her. "Let's get in the tent so Jack--"

Juliet shook her head. "What's the point in going inside?" she asked him. "So I can not see in there whatever I don't see out here?" she questioned sarcastically. "Or are you just ashamed?"

Sawyer was silent. Crankiness was one thing, he couldn't blame her for being cranky. But she was being downright outrageous at this point.

Juliet opened her eyes now. She ignored the collective gasps and cusses that followed as everyone stared at her.

Jack stepped up to her immediately as Sawyer backed away.

"Diagnosis," Juliet stated. "I'm blind."

Jack was quiet at first, studying the blue eyes with no pupils. "I've.. never seen anything like this.." he muttered with uncertainty.

Juliet released a faint yet sad chuckle in response. She had already assumed that was obvious from everyone's reactions. She turned her head and her nose crinkled slightly as she saw a blur. And slowly the blur began taking a shape. She watched as Kate came in entirely clear in her vision. She locked eyes with her instant. "Kate.." she muttered quietly.

Jack turned his head along with Sawyer and both of them stared with confusion. "You see Kate?" Jack asked immediately.

Juliet nodded wordlessly.

"Sonuvabitch," Sawyer muttered next. "Ever hear of selective eyesight?" he questioned sarcastically before looking at Juliet. "Or is this just some big joke?"

Juliet glanced over in Sawyer's general direction. "Go to hell," she told him in response. She made her attempt to walk away, which came shakily and with uncertainty. Because she had no idea if there was anyone near her. She had bumped a few shoulders of people she assumed were attempting to get out of her way.

Sawyer watched in shock as she stumbled awkwardly away. He ran his fingers through his hair and groaned inwardly before following her shaking footsteps. "Juliet," he stated, reaching out and grabbing her arm.

"Leave, me, alone.." she growled out, attempting to push his hand off but simply losing her balance and falling into him instead. She remained silent and still as her head rested against his chest and she listened to his heartbeat. "I don't need you," she told him. "I don't need any of you.." she stated quietly.

Sawyer felt the tears soak through his shirt. It was obvious from seeing her eyes that she hadn't been screwing with them from the start. But why had she been able to see Kate and nothing else? She couldn't even walk without teetering from side to side and nearly falling. Hell, she could hardly stand still without teetering side to side. "Maybe not normally," he replied in a whisper into her ear. "But right now you do."

Everyone else watched in silence as Sawyer tried to calm down Juliet. None of them knew what to do, to say. None of them were even sure what to think right now.

"No I don't," she answered, planting both hands on his chest and pushing him away. "I can do this on my own," she told him before turning around, her legs shaky. She had no idea where she was going, what direction she was going. But she was going.

Sawyer mentally head-slapped himself.

Rose watched in stunned silence as the blonde wavered her way across the beach and away from them all. She put her hand on Sawyer's arm to stop him before turning to Kate. "She can see you dear, perhaps you should go after her."

Kate glanced at Rose and Sawyer. She watched Sawyer's frown and worried glance towards Juliet before she nodded and ran after the woman. Not that she had far to run. Juliet was epically slow as she tried to walk unbalanced. "Juliet.."

Juliet stopped. She knew there was no point in continuing her fruitless runaway because she couldn't see where she was running to. She considered herself lucky that she hadn't fallen, tripped, or done any number of stupid things already. So she simply sat down in the sand.

Kate glanced to the side and noted that Juliet had sat herself right near the water, facing towards it. She wondered if she even knew where she'd gotten to at this point, but she sat down beside her regardless. She watched as Juliet turned and stared straight into her eyes.

"What do they look like?" she questioned.

Kate was silent for a moment. "Clear blue.." she answered.

Juliet looked confused. "That's the same as always.."

"You have no pupils.." Kate clarified with honesty. She watched Juliet's mouth form an 'O' shape as she considered her words.

"Did you mean it, when you said that I wasn't like them?" Juliet questioned out of the blue. "That I wasn't really one of them?"

Kate watched Juliet study her face and she felt oddly unnerved to be seen by those eyes. "I did," she replied earnestly. "Are you worried that we still think you're one of them?"

Juliet shrugged her shoulders in response. "I don't know," she answered.

"Why are you trying to push Sawyer away?" Kate questioned in return. "Whether you want to think so or not, you _do_ need us, Juliet.." she told the other woman.

"You're going to die.." Juliet stated quietly.

Silence was the reply.

Juliet stared back ahead of her, not daring to look Kate in the eyes. "I don't know how.. or why," she admitted. "Just that you are."

Kate opened her mouth to reply but she was uncertain what to say. It took her a moment to recover. "How do you know?"

Juliet smiled sadly. "Because I can see people that I need to save.."

Kate was unsure how to respond to her yet again. She could tell that Juliet was serious. "But.. how do you know?"

Juliet sighed. "Jacob told me.." she answered. "So.. I need to save you.."

Kate placed a hand over Juliet's warily. "I believe you," she replied. "But I don't know how you'll be able to save me.."

Juliet smiled a little. "Neither do I.. unfortunately he didn't give any guidelines on the 'how to save' speech," she replied.

"Are you.. stuck like this?" Kate dared to ask.

Juliet shook her head. "He ambiguously told me that once my 'gift' has served its purpose, I'll be able to see again.."

Kate frowned. "Cryptic.."

"Quite.." Juliet replied with a sigh.

"Well.." Kate said softly, watching as Juliet's eyes locked with hers. "If its any consolation, I believe in your ability to save me."

Juliet smiled gratefully. "That makes one of us.."

**()()TBC()()**

**Again, sorry for the delay! This is being uploaded at someone else's house. I should be able to update again on Wednesday hopefully. Maybe tomorrow night if I'm lucky, unless my internet magically decides to start working. Which would be amazing. Though I doubt it.**

**A lot of Jacob's warnings about Juliet's hostility present in this chapter. Not to mention his 'see the dying' foresight of Juliet's eyesight. Wonder how and what Juliet will need to save Kate from.. here comes the fun.**


	20. Reconcile

**Author's Note**: Okay, I really apologize for this taking so long. My internet has been on and off for a while now which makes updating REALLY difficult. I've posted the new story, Broken, but that was only because I was writing that in moments of boredom and my internet sparked to life for a few minutes for me to post it.

In other news.. I'm also moving so, the next update might not be for a few days, not to mention I have a job interview in.. 6 and a half hours. Heh.

This one's for D.D. Casale who requested a longer chapter! Here you go! Enjoy.

**All Over Again**:

_I wouldn't trade those days for nothin'_

_It was 1970 somethin'._

_**-Mark Wills**_

For the next two days Juliet had managed to give everyone the silent treatment and not speak one word. Even then, she managed to keep her eyes on Kate, which wasn't entirely difficult considering the other woman was the only thing she could see at the moment.

She'd been sitting out by the water for a few hours at this point. Each day she managed to find her way back to the same general area by counting her steps. She also knew that someone had been sitting quietly beside her for the past hour and she knew exactly who that someone was. "Are you going to keep sitting there in silence or start talking, James?" she questioned quietly, breaking her vow of silence.

Sawyer glanced at her slightly surprised. It was the first time she'd spoken to him or anyone in a matter of two days and he'd been more then a little worried about her state of mind. "I wanna help you, but you won't let me and I don't know how to help anyways.." he finally explained after a moment of silence between them. He sighed and closed his eyes.

Juliet was quiet for yet another moment while her hand slowly inched across the sand until it found its way to his. She felt bad for the way she'd been treating him, she didn't deny that to herself. Still, she felt the edges of her lips curl upwards slightly when he intertwined their fingers.

Sawyer opened his eyes and glanced over at her smiling face. "Juliet.." he muttered out.

Juliet turned her head in his direction. "Not everything can be fixed, James.." she told him carefully. She released his hand and slowly leaned to the side, grateful that he put his arm across her shoulders to guide her to his side. Finally she felt her head rest against his shoulder and she felt a little more content than she had in the past couple of days.

"I know," he replied. He was just glad that she had finally stopped ignoring him. The physical contact with her was enough to make him happy at the moment.

Juliet chuckled slightly as a thought crossed her mind. "So.. how stupid do I look when I walk around?" she questioned jokingly.

"Is that a trick question?" he asked in reply. "Because I'm sensing a Dharmaville deja vu of the time you asked if your jumpsuit made you look a bit masculine.."

Juliet grinned in response. "The truth is that bad, eh?" she asked him next.

Sawyer couldn't stop himself before it was out of his mouth. "Like a toddler learnin' to walk, darlin'."

Juliet couldn't even try to be angry because in an instant she found herself letting loose one of those deep throaty laughs that only he seemed to bring out of her. "Oh god," she muttered, making herself comfortable against his shoulder. "Your tact leaves something to be desired, James.."

Sawyer chuckled before leaning down and pressing his lips against hers for a moment.

Juliet placed her hand on the back of his head and returned the kiss until she managed to scramble onto his lap and straddle him.

Sawyer couldn't stop himself from releasing a laugh. "You know, this is usually how we always started sex on the beach, but I'm not sure anyone here but us will enjoy or appreciate it."

Juliet smirked. "I don't see anyone else."

Sawyer could only laugh again before kissing her once more. There was something even more endearing about the fact she could finally crack a joke about her condition that made him love her even more, if that was possible at this point.

Juliet sighed in slight contentment as she wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. She already knew how horrible she'd been to him the past couple of days, and still she also knew he hadn't left her side because of it. She wasn't sure how to keep pushing him away when he just kept coming back for more. Perhaps it was safer to keep him close. As long as she couldn't see him, he was safe.

But what if he wasn't? She could see people if she could save them. What if he _was_ in danger and there was simply nothing she could do? She didn't want to think about that. Yet.. she couldn't stop herself from thinking about it. Maybe dying would have been better then this. Better then having the weight of the world on her shoulders, better then having then sitting here trying to figure out how she was going to save these people.

"I'm gonna get you off this island, Juliet.." he told her, tracing small circles on her back. He noticed one thing, the mark that had been on her lower back the entire time he'd known her was gone. That scar that had clearly been burned into her flesh, just disappeared.

Juliet wanted to believe him more then anything but found that she couldn't. "Don't make promises that you can't keep, James.." she warned him quietly.

Sawyer already knew she hated when people made her promises that they didn't know for certain they could keep. "It wasn't a promise," he told her carefully.

"Oh?" she questioned. "What was it then?"

"It was a fact.."

Juliet felt herself smiling a little in response. "James, you never listen to me.." she said in amusement. "I don't doubt you could get me off this island, I don't doubt_ you_, I only doubt this place," she explained casually not once shifting her position. "And I wouldn't change anything that happened, I would come to this island again if I got the chance to do it all over again."

Sawyer was silent for a moment as he let her words sink in. "Why?" he finally asked.

"How the hell else would I meet you?" she asked him with a gentle laugh escaping her lips afterward.

Sawyer found himself smiling in response. "Yeah.." he replied. "I wouldn't trade those days for nothin'."

Rose sat beside Bernard and chuckled as she watched the two of them, listened to them as well.

"They making you wish we met a hell of a lot younger?" Bernard questioned jokingly.

Rose laughed and looked over at Bernard. "What we have is just perfect," she answered, patting his hand with her own. She glanced back over at Juliet's face and watched as the woman stared into absolute nothingness.

"What's wrong?" Bernard questioned, watching Rose's worried gaze.

"Look at her," Rose replied quietly. "Something about that girl is just broken.." she explained. "I've seen that look on myself when I got diagnosed with cancer," she admitted. "It's the look you get when you feel like you're carrying the weight of the world and you're afraid you're about to crumble from all of it.."

Bernard studied Juliet's face as well. Rose was right. Those brilliantly blue eyes, although hard to tell emotion without pupils, were in fact easier to read now then they had been ever before. They were hiding something. "She's not telling us something.."

"Exactly.." Rose answered, sighing slightly. "Sawyer either knows it, or he's too preoccupied with worrying about her to have seen it yet.."

Juliet allowed her eyes to wander now in search of Kate. When she finally found her off in the distance there was something different. Not only could she see Kate, but there was something dark swirling around the other woman. She could now make out Claire and Aaron beside her and the same dark cloud was swirling around all of them. "James," she stated, sitting up and her entire body began tensing up.

Something was sending her senses for a loop. Her ears were ringing, her head was spinning. Something even smelled funny.

"What is it?" he questioned immediately, studying her face. There was worry and something else he couldn't explain crossing her features.

Juliet looked around trying to figure out what could possibly be about to happen. Nothing. She could see nothing. How could she help if she saw nothing? What the hell did Jacob.. _CRACK_.. 'What the hell was that?' she wondered silently. Something fuzzy was making itself clear to her through the bushes right behind Kate and Claire. A black shadow of a man. Her breath hitched and her mind was screaming danger. _CRACK.. CLICK.._

"Juliet, dammit, what's going on?!" Sawyer questioned, grabbing everyone's attention.

Juliet felt unable to catch her breath and unable to respond with words. She felt the gun at Sawyer's side and pulled it out of his pants.

"What the hell are ya'--"

_BANG!_

Everyone was frozen in place.

Juliet was standing. She didn't even remember getting up. She felt something in her hands.. a gun. When did she get a gun?

Sawyer sat in shock for a moment before he turned to see what in the world Juliet had just shot. Or who. She'd been aiming in the direction that Claire and Kate were sitting, both women were tucked onto the ground but looked fine.

It wasn't until someone's voice rang out that the silence was broken after a minute or two.

"She shot Ethan.."

Sawyer knew whose voice it was. Jack's. Jack was stepping back out of the jungle where Juliet had taken a potshot and checking on Claire and Kate who insisted they were alright before heading over to them.

"Juliet.." Sawyer stated, gently easing the gun out of her hand. "Juliet.." he said again, trying to grab her attention. No luck, she was simply staring out at absolutely nothing in a state of shock. "C'mon sweetheart.." he said softly, a term of endearment he mostly used when he was truly worried about her.

Juliet stared silently as the dark cloud that she had seen around Kate, Claire and Aaron was gone. There was now a vague glow around them unlike when she'd seen Kate before. She had seen this light glow around Jacob as well. Did this mean they were saved? How did she save them? What the hell had she just done and why couldn't she remember?

"Juliet.."

She heard him call her name again and finally she felt his hands touch her face. She felt herself shudder out a breath before she leaned forward and rested her cheek on him wherever it landed, she guessed it was against his shoulder and she wrapped her arms around him.

Sawyer was silent for a moment before he tucked the gun back into his side and wrapped his arms around her as well. "Relax.." he told her quietly, her whole body was shaking. "Calm down, you're alright, everyone is alright.." he assured her. He stood there, glancing at Jack for a moment as he felt Juliet's breathing even out. She'd fallen asleep on his shoulder, just like that.

"Ethan had a gun.." Jack told him quietly. "There's no chance in hell she could have seen him.. how the hell did she make that shot?"

Sawyer held onto her tightly. "She's got a secret she ain't tellin' us, Doc," he explained.

"Obviously.." Jack retorted, staring at the blonde in Sawyer's arms. Used to be he was he one who held her like that. He was undecided about whether or not he missed that. Though.. that pang of guilt for leaving her here on this island had never subsided. He'd hidden it down pretty far inside of him, but it had surfaced again as soon as she opened the door to hers and Sawyer's house in 1977.

He'd managed to lock it away again pretty quickly after realizing she'd moved on. But it kept surfacing. It had surfaced when she'd stopped Sawyer from nearly killing him. It had surfaced when he'd passed her and Sawyer and she had a look of anger and devastation on her face when he was heading to plant his bomb. And it had surfaced again when he'd woken up to find she'd been dragged down the hatch of The Swan station by a metal chain.

He'd lost both her and Kate. He might still have a chance at getting Kate back, but seeing Juliet now, he knew Juliet was both out of reach for him and off-limits.

"What are you starin' at?" Sawyer questioned, eying him with unnerving curiosity.

"What made you stop hating her?" Jack finally dared to ask. "How did you go from hating her to loving her?"

Sawyer was silent for a minute as he pulled Juliet up into his arms to allow her an easier sleeping position. She didn't bat an eye, she was out like a light. "I jump off that helicopter and swim to shore, wanna know what the first damn thing I see is?"

Jack nodded.

"I see Juliet, sitting there drowning herself in a bottle of alcohol.." he muttered out. "Cause by the time I get back the freighter's already up in smokes and she just sat there watching her last chance of going home go kablooey.."

Jack was silent now.

"She was nice enough to share the damned bottle though, course by the time I'd gotten there she'd already sucked half the damn thing down," he admitted. "You run around the jungle with someone long enough and they save your ass enough times, you learn to get over your differences."

Jack sighed slightly and stared at Juliet in Sawyer's arms.

"I got no shame admittin' that you were right about one thing, if anything, the entire time we've been here Doc," Sawyer told him. "She was always a good person."

Jack nodded a bit in response. He didn't have any words to reply and he knew Sawyer wasn't finished yet. Better not to interrupt him while he was still speaking of his own free will.

"Good people do stupid shit to survive, I would know, we all do," he pointed out to him. "I got no clue when I when from tolerate to like.. like, to care about, and etcetera to love, but it happened.." he admitted. "And the only damned time I regretted it was when you guys came back and she got pulled down the damned hatch."

"I didn't want anyone to get hurt.." Jack told him carefully.

"Yeah.." Sawyer muttered. "You never do, but somehow people always get hurt," he stated, not really caring how much his words might sting. "I already lost her once, and I ain't dealin' with that again.. I got enough nightmares still goin' from that damned incident at the swan station."

Jack was silent as he watched Sawyer head into his tent with Juliet in his arms. He ran his fingers across his short-cropped hair and let out a strangled breath. He deserved that one.

**()()TBC()()**

**Hope you guys enjoyed that. I was going to end it sooner, but I remembered D.D. Casale asking me to write longer chapters and well.. I figured I might as well concede to the idea! So here you are! Hope it was long enough. I ran out of time to write anymore, I need sleep before my interview.**

**In another note.. holy crap. Chapter 20? I never realized this story would be so damned long. I should probably get moving along and finish it soon before it gets TOO long.**


	21. Falling

**Author's Note**: So sorry that I'm later that I thought I would be on this update. Unidentified Flying Objects struck my braincells. That, and I'm currently in a huge fight with the now-ex-boyfriend. Yada yada..

Clearly we can say real life inspires where my chapters are heading.

Also. This chapter was supposed to be updated a lot earlier today.. but for some reason just would not open up for me. Every website but that would work.. go figure.

**All Over Again**:

_You can't save me,_

_You can't blame me,_

_I'm waiting here to take a fall,_

_And everything, everything's my fault._

_**-Unwritten Law**_

_One wrong step.. one wrong turn.. disaster.. disaster.. one foot in front of the other, hands out in front for balance.. find your way.. find your way. Death.. death.. everyone's dying. Dead.. dead.. everyone's dead.. bodies everywhere, no one left to save. Crying.. crying.. somebody's crying. That somebody was herself. She was crying.. crying. Going mad.. crazy.. insane. No one else left, no one to save.. no one to save her. Falling.. flying.. falling.._

Juliet sat up with a shaky breath. She felt around with her hands and frowned, there was no sand for her hands to grasp onto. Just leaves and twigs. Where the hell was she? She took a deep breath to calm herself down, the strange dream had already put her mind working in overdrive. She felt something warm and sticky on her hands and she frowned, glancing down. Something she dreaded stirred in the pit of her stomach when she noticed she could_ see_ her hands. See the blood on them.

She looked around quickly, realizing she could see nothing else. So she was supposed to save herself now? How the hell was she supposed to save herself when she couldn't even figure out where she was and how she got there.

"_Juliet_..."

Juliet had just gotten to her feet when she heard the voices. Those god-damned whispers in the wind that she could never explain when she'd first come to the island.

"_Death.. dead.. dying.. dead.._"

"JULIET!"

She found herself glued to the spot she was standing as the wind blew around her. And the only thing she found she could do was listen to the wind.

"_Cry.. cry.. tears.. going mad.. going mad.. no one can save you.._"

"There she is!" came Kate's voice.

"Juliet!!" Sawyer yelled out, running over to her immediately and leaving Kate, Jack, Sun and Jin behind as they waited. He stared the tears streaming down her face and that was almost enough to tear him apart. But her hands were covered in blood, and there were scrapes and bruises all over her hands where the blood had come from.

Juliet allowed her eyes to trail upwards and she found herself looking directly into Sawyer's eyes. She could see him as well.

"Juliet, what happened?" he asked her quickly, but there was a blank look on her face. He didn't have to ask anything else, he could already tell she was still trying to figure out what happened as well.

"_Die for you.. die for you.. he'll die because of you.."_

Juliet watched as he went to pull her into his arms and she shook her head and backed away.

"Juliet, dammit.." Sawyer muttered as she stepped away. These mood swings were getting insane. First she was staying away, then she was all over him, now she was trying to stay away again. She had explained the night before, after her incident with shooting Ethan, about Jacob, her eyes, and what Jacob had told her. Then when he woke up this morning, Juliet was gone. Nowhere to be found on the beach, but her trail had been erratic and Kate had picked it up instantly.

It took him a moment for the realization to hit dawn on him. She could see him. "Juliet, calm down.." he stated quietly after a minute. He took another step forward towards her but she backed away again.

Juliet glanced down at her hands again, that swirling darkness was now trailing around her hands and up her arms. She took a deep breath and glanced up at Sawyer coming towards her and she shook her head immediately. The darkness was trailing all around him as well. It was the same darkness that had been around Kate and Claire when Ethan had been about to kill them..

"No.." she whispered, planting her hands on his chest and shoved him backwards before turning and running.

"Sawyer!!" Kate quickly pulled him back to his feet. "The cliff! She's heading toward the damned cliff! She can't see!"

Sawyer was after Juliet in an instant, and catching up to her as well. It wasn't hard to catch someone who could barely balance themselves while they stood let alone someone trying to run and do it. Though he admitted she was doing a damned good job.

"Oh my god.." Claire muttered.

"What is is dear?" Rose questioned, then followed Claire's hand to where her finger was pointing. She watched as Juliet broke out of a clearing on the cliff a little ways away from them with Sawyer not far behind her. "Oh no.." she found herself muttering as well, they had caught everyone's attention.

Everyone was staring at the scene now. Juliet was running without stopping.

"JULIET!!" Sawyer yelled out grabbing her from behind and wrapping both arms tight around her. He let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding after a second as he looked at where they were. About one foot from the edge. "You gotta talk to me, Juliet.." he told her quietly. "You gotta tell me what's wrong.."

"You have to.. you have to let me go," Juliet whispered, struggling to pull herself out of his arms. "You're going to die.. it'll be all my fault, you have to let me go.."

Sawyer locked his arms tighter around her. "Juliet, _stop_!" he growled out quickly. "You're on the damned ledge of the cliff, two more steps and we're both going over and taking one really unhappy plunge to the rocky ocean bottom.."

Juliet wondered briefly if he was lying to her just to get her to stop. But the slight panic in his voice told her that he was telling the truth. She stopped, turning in his arms and staring directly into his eyes. "I don't know how to save us.."

Sawyer frowned for a moment. "Us?" he questioned quickly, not sure he understood.

"We're both going to die.." she admitted.

Sawyer felt his breath hitch for a moment before he pulled her body tightly against his in an embrace and resting his cheek on the top of her head. "I'm not losin' you again," he assured her pulling away from the embrace briefly to catch her lips with his. "But you gotta stop runnin' from me.."

"I can't.." she whispered. "Staying with you.. you'll die," she told him carefully. "I can't.. I can't let you die for me.."

Sawyer's eyes nearly bulged from his head as she took a step back to clarify her statement. "Jesus!" he growled. "Are you insane? Don't move another step!" he told her immediately. She was just one small step from the edge now.

"James.. I--"

Sawyer nearly felt his heart drop as the ledge crumbled beneath her feet. He dropped down immediately, his hands shooting out and grabbing her bloodied ones. He heard Juliet's shriek as she had lost her footing, he heard the collective screams and yells coming from everyone down on the beach, and he heard his own heart pounding in response. He could feel the ledge beneath him crumbling now as well. She was right.. they were going to die.

"Let me go.." Juliet cried out, staring up into his eyes.

"No," Sawyer answered immediately, tugging her up slowly. The blood on her hands made them slippery and hard to grasp and he felt her hands slipping now. The tears going down her face almost drove him mad, it was as if the incident at the swan was about to happen all over again. "Live together, die alone, you remember that?" he strained to ask her.

Juliet shook her head now. "I--"

"I love _you_," Sawyer assured her, grasping her hands tighter now. "Don't you dare let go again," he warned her, pulling her up.

Juliet felt herself unable to let go at the statement of 'I love you'. She wasn't sure if the reason behind that was because it had been quite a few days worth of fighting that neither of them said it to each other, or if it was because before her brush with death at The Swan, he'd hardly ever been the one to say it to her first. After a moment she heaved out a breath she wasn't aware she was holding in as he pulled her up and they both fell backwards, her landing on top of him.

She closed her eyes for a moment as she rested her head on his chest and listened to the erratic beating of his heart. She wanted to apologize for acting like an idiot but she couldn't find the words to do so. But she really just wanted to get off this island and live life like normal people by his side. She wouldn't tell him that either though.

"It's you and me blondie.." he whispered into her ear and placed a kiss on her temple. "No matter how much you try and push me away, I told you I ain't goin' nowhere.."

Juliet nodded slightly into his shoulder. "I know.." she whispered in reply. "But.."

"No buts.." Sawyer retorted, watching as she pulled away to stare down into his eyes. "You were right, when you said that I would stay with you forever if you asked me to.." he admitted. "But I'm staying anyways.. because I love you even more for never asking me for _anything_."

Juliet tilted her head to the side slightly in response. "I don't understand.."

"You don't hold me at any high expectations.." Sawyer stated, placing his hands on her waist. "You love me for me, and that's why I love you.. you don't wanna change me, and.. as much as I hate when you push me away when you're hurting.. if you didn't do that, you wouldn't be you."

Juliet arched both eyebrows up in response. "You're insufferable when you explain things.." she answered quietly with a gentle chuckle.

"Fine," Sawyer said with a short laugh. "We're like two different puzzles that got mixed in the same box, and some jackass pieced us together like a nincompoop.." he told her, pulling her down and placing his lips against hers.

"I see," Juliet replied with a small smile. He was clearly aiming to make her feel better, it was working. "And what exactly does that make us?"

"One really screwed up puzzle.." Sawyer replied. He laughed when she smacked him playfully on the chest. "Hey, by the end we make one helluva good picture."

Juliet laughed now, shaking her head.

Kate glanced at Jack and released a silent chuckle as she shook her head at the two of them. "They're out of their minds.." she whispered.

Jack snorted out a laugh and nodded in agreement. "They're a pretty odd pair.." he agreed.

"Should probably leave them alone to talk this out a little more," Kate suggested. Both her and Jack turned to walk away after Sun and Jin who had walked off moments earlier when they heard it..

The cracks. Crumbles.. Juliet's shrieks.

They both turned around in time to see the ledge crumble beneath them as both Juliet and Sawyer went over the edge.

"Oh my god!" Kate yelled, running towards the remains of the ledge with Jack as they both looked over to see that Juliet had her arm hooked onto a branch and with her other hand she had Sawyer's hand. "Juliet! Hold on!" she screamed down to the blonde as her and Jack both attempted to reach their hands down for hers. No use, she was too far down.

"Sonuvabitch.." Sawyer growled out, daring to glance down at the rocky ocean bottom.

Juliet dared to glance down at him. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she questioned softly.

Sawyer glanced up at her. "I get the feeling what we're thinking could probably kill us.." he muttered out.

Juliet took a deep breath. "Well?"

Sawyer stared directly into her eyes. "Let's do it.." he decided.

"Do what?!" Jack yelled down at them.

Kate looked equally as paranoid as Jack did at the moment.

"I'll go first, seeing as I'm on the bottom.." Sawyer decided, daring to glance down again.

Juliet nodded her head slightly. "James.."

"Love ya," Sawyer stated, grinning up at her. "When I say let go.. do it.."

Juliet nodded once more. "I love you too.."

Sawyer took a deep breath and released it as he planted his feet against the side of the cliff. "Ready?"

"Yes.."

"Let go.."

Juliet did..

"What the hell are you doing?!" Kate screeched out, watching as Juliet let Sawyer's hand go.

Jack knew exactly what Sawyer had done. "Juliet, reach your hand up! We can pull you up if you reach your hand up!"

Juliet shook her head. "I think I'll take my chances with James.."

"What?!" Kate growled out flabbergasted.

Juliet smiled up at them for a moment before planting her feet firmly against the side as well.

Jack shook his head now as well. "Don't you dare, we can pull you up, there's no damned point in jumping down there too!" he yelled at her. "Juliet!"

Juliet ignored him as she readied herself, because she didn't have the guts to look down and see if she could see the water. If she could see it, then she knew that would be the death of her.. So she sucked in a deep breath, kicked her legs off the side of the cliff and let go with her hand. And then she was going down. _Falling. Flying. Falling._

**()()TBC()()**

**I'll update again tomorrow, promise. Its my day off! Sorry about the cliffhanger, but one: I have to pee real bad. Two: I'm a designated driver and I have to go pick up a couple drunks. And three: Well.. I'm just really mean.**


	22. Taken

**Author's Note**: Well, I did indeed promise another chapter again tonight. I figure it would be pretty rude to ignore that promise! I apologize its REALLY late at night, so most of you won't even see it until morning, but I seem to have gotten sick :( I can't breathe through my nose, my throats all swollen and I slept about 16 hours today. Ew..

This chapter's for **CarolynneRuth**..she makes me giggle profusely. Thank god you fed the kids! LOL. Just for you, I'm making this chapter extra long! Hope you enjoy it!

**All Over Again**:

_I'll be your dream, I'll be your wish ,_

_I'll be your fantasy. I'll be your hope,_

_I'll be your love, be everything that you need,_

_I love you more with every breath,_

_Truly, Madly, Deeply do._

_**-Savage Garden**_

"Anything?!" Jack yelled out.

"Nothing," Sayid answered.

Jack let out a breath of frustration. It had been over an hour since Juliet and Sawyer had taken 'the plunge' so to speak. He understood why Sawyer took his chances by jumping, but they could have saved Juliet if she'd just given them her then free hand. She had flat out refused. She had kicked off the side and hoped for the best, and now they hadn't found either one.

Had that been her point? She didn't want to take the chance that if they pulled her up she wouldn't see Sawyer again? Did she love Sawyer that much? He couldn't help the thought that if he had given her a real chance, would she have loved him the same amount? Or would Kate ever love him the way Juliet loved Sawyer?

He already knew those thoughts were the reason it would have never, and would never, work between him and Juliet. Sure, his thoughts could vaguely stray to Juliet but they would switch to Kate quickly and compare and contrast.

"Hey.."

Jack already knew it was Kate as soon as he felt her hand on his shoulder.

"We're going to find them, Jack.." Kate assured him. "What do you think happened to her out in the jungle?" she asked quietly.

Jack could only shake his head. He had no idea what had possibly drove her into such delusions. Or even what had happened to her hands. They had been scratched and bleeding and he couldn't for the life of him figure out how it had happened. "Let's just concentrate on finding them.."

Kate frowned but nodded her head in response. "Alright.."

**~*~*~*~**

"_Juliet.._"

_Crack.. crack.. hit the bomb.. hit the bomb.. BAM.. BAM.. blow it up.. blow it up.. son of a bitch, why won't it blow up? Rocks cutting into skin.. hand bleeding.. need to switch hands.. gotta blow up the bomb.. blow it up.. blow it up, other hands bleeding now.. dying.. dying.. everyone's dying._

"_Juliet!"_

_Running away, running away, you're running. Taken away.. being taken away, you're being taken away.. now everyone's safe.. the bomb won't blow.._

"_JULIET!"_

Blues eyes opened immediately as she coughed and sputtered and spit water from her mouth to find herself still staring up into James' eyes. Her first thought was that the black death swirl was no longer around him, her next though was that he didn't have the slight glow proving he'd been saved. She had saved him from one thing but he was still in danger?

"Relax.." Sawyer stated quietly, placing a kiss on her forehead. He sighed slightly in relief. She hadn't been breathing for at least a minute and it had felt like hours. "We're on the wrong side of the cliff.." he told her. "We gotta cut around it and get back to our side.."

Juliet nodded mutely in response.

"Hey.." he whispered, resting his forehead against hers. "If we made it through that, we can make it through anything, darlin'.."

Juliet smiled faintly. "Ben's.. gonna find me.."

Sawyer took a deep breath and let it out. "He ain't gonna touch you.." he assured her.

"Tired.." she muttered out.. feeling her eyelids growing heavy.

"Rest then," Sawyer told her, pulling her into his arms. "I'll get us back." He was more then just a little worried by her short responses.

Juliet nodded just a little as her head lolled to the side and rested against his shoulder. "Love.. you.."

Sawyer smiled a little. "Yeah yeah.. love you too," he stated as he stood to his feet.

"Freeze!"

And freeze was exactly what Sawyer did as he turned to look at who yelled at them. He was shocked as he stared at Miles. How the hell had Miles gotten here? "Sonuvabitch.. Miles?"

Miles froze now and then lowered the gun. "Jesus, Jim," he stated, tucking the gun into his pants and walking over to him. "I'd say its good to see you, but you both look like crap, what the hell happened? You guys get in a water fight?"

Sawyer nodded his head up towards the cliff. "Took an accidental nose-dive."

Miles stared up at the cliff before looking down at the water below. "Holy shit.."

"How the hell did you get back here?" Sawyer questioned, staring at him with slight confusion. "You guys shouldn't show up for a while.."

Miles sighed. "Yeah no kidding, but I think its more then just us who remember, Widmore got us on that freighter even faster then last time. This time I opt'd to get onto the helicopter with Naomi."

"Where is she?" he questioned, walking with Miles back to the beach.

Miles eyed him carefully. "No idea, she jumped, I jumped.. haven't seen her yet," he admitted. "You look a little shaky.. want me to carry her?"

Sawyer shook his head.

"Fine, _let_ me carry her, you look like you're gonna fall over on your ass any minute now, _boss,_" Miles pointed out carefully. "In case you can't remember, you both just nose-dived off a cliff into a rock-bottomed ocean?"

Sawyer sighed as Miles relinquished his hold on Juliet and took her himself. He glanced at the blonde and frowned. "Why'd you come back?" he finally questioned.

"And leave you guys here?" Miles asked. "Three years and I actually _liked_ you, Juliet and Jin.." he admitted. "Friends don't forget about each other, they come back for each other."

Sawyer smiled a little. Sure, Miles was a selfish jackass, but only with people he wasn't friends with. You became his friend, he was the most loyal sonuvabitch you'd ever meet. This proved that. "You're in for the ride of your life, ghostbuster," he told him. "Its even crazier this time around.."

Miles smirked. "We flashing through time yet?" he asked.

Sawyer glanced at him. "Touche.."

"Does everyone remember?" Miles questioned. "Cause Dan and Charlotte.. I don't think they did. Or Naomi."

Sawyer glanced at him. "Not everyone right away. The people who were still alive remembered almost immediately but everyone who died.. they took a while."

Miles glanced down at Juliet. "How long did it take for her to remember?"

Sawyer pondered explaining it all to him. After all they'd been through, Miles would believe it. "For a while.. every time she remembered, she would forget.." he admitted, glancing down at Juliet's pale skin. "It almost killed her, it still could.. if it happens again," he explained. "Her memory coming and was effecting her just like the flashes effected Charlotte.."

Miles was too stunned to respond for a moment. He glanced down at Juliet and then back over at Sawyer. "So.. she stopped forgetting though, right?" he asked immediately. "She's alright now?"

"She should.." Sawyer told him. "But there's a chance if she keeps getting hurt she could relapse.. she could start forgetting again.. it would kill her."

Miles was silent now. If she kept getting hurt? What kept happening to her? "So.. we protect her, right?"

Sawyer frowned. "I've tried.. we went to sleep last night though, in the morning she was gone.. Kate tracked her.. she was out in the jungle, just standing there. Her hands were bleeding and she was crying.."

"Jesus.." Miles muttered.

"She can't freakin' see.." he muttered back to Miles. "She's blind, but somehow she can see people who are gonna die though.." he admitted.

Miles would have thought he was insane if he couldn't speak to the dead.

"When she realizes she can see me, she goes runnin' off, and I barely got her before she ran off the cliff.." he admitted. "But she kept sayin' me and her were gonna die.. that she didn't know how to save us and that I had to just let her go.." he admitted. "She took a step back.. the ledge crumbled and I got her back up.. but then it broke under both of us and we dropped."

Miles stared at him in shock.

"She's freakin' in danger.. and I haven't been able to do a damned thing to keep her safe," Sawyer mumbled.

Miles arched an eyebrow up at in inquisitively. "I don't think she'd agree with you on that," he pointed out. "Take a look at her.. you just nose-dived off a cliff for her."

Sawyer blinked his eyes in response, as if the idea of that had only just dawned on him.

"I guess you don't realize how often you save her," Miles stated with a shrug. "Not that I doesn't go both ways, there's been plenty of times she's saved you too.."

Sawyer felt the dread in his stomach.. "Like at the Swan.."

Miles nodded mutely in response. "She didn't let go, you would've gone down with her.. she was saving your life." He sighed. "Too bad about the ba--" he paused.

"About the what?" Sawyer questioned, staring strangely at Miles.

"Nothing.." Miles assured him, shaking his head. "My head's a little fuzzy, I just fell out of a helicopter."

Sawyer narrowed his eyes slightly but he said nothing in response. Miles was lying to him, and he had no idea what, but he was gonna find out what he meant to say.

Miles gave a questioning glance down at Juliet who had pinched him when he was talking before. Obviously she wasn't really asleep.

"I'd prefer to walk now.."

Sawyer glanced down at her as well. "You really shouldn't--"

"James.." she warned, as Miles obligingly put her onto her feet. "I'm not helpless.. don't treat me like I am."

Sawyer frowned. She was withdrawing into herself once again. Her mood swings were absolutely insane. But he understood now. She was afraid.. she knew Ben was out there somewhere, and she was right. He was probably looking for her right now. He grabbed her hand and glanced at Miles. "Wanna give us a minute?"

Miles glanced between the two and nodded before walking out of hearing distance.

"Look.." Sawyer stated, meeting her eyes with his own. "I know you're afraid of Ben.." he told her quietly. "But Juliet.. I'm not going to let him near you, he's not going to hurt you.. not if I can help it."

Juliet couldn't help the anger that simmered in response. "You honestly don't understand, do you?" she questioned, the annoyance clear in her voice. "It's not me I'm afraid he's going to hurt, James.. it's _you._"

Sawyer was silent now.

"Ben will try and kill you, I know he will.." she explained, pulling her hand from his. "And if he kills you, a piece of me dies with you James, and I can't live with that.. I'd rather live without you and know you're at least alive."

Sawyer was stunned as she walked away from him and headed back towards the beach. He took a deep breath and let it go before following after her with Miles at his side. How did she even know where she was going? Though he assumed she didn't actually know where she was going. She seemed to be lucky at the moment and heading in the right direction.

"She been like that the entire time?" Miles questioned quietly.

Sawyer simply nodded.

"Look.. I should probably tell you something.." Miles stated, keeping his voice low.

"What?" Sawyer questioned. "Whatever it was you stopped yourself from saying before?"

Miles nodded.

"Alright.. shoot.." Sawyer stated.

"Juliet.. she was.." Miles frowned, wondering how exactly he could put this. He realized there was no real easy way to put it though. "She was pregnant.."

Sawyer stopped short immediately in response to Miles' statement.

"_It's Juliet!!"_

He watched her in stunned silence as Claire embraced Juliet and everyone was heading towards her. "She was.. a baby?"

Miles nodded solemnly. "I guess she decided it was better not to tell you, since she'd never gotten the chance anyways.." he admitted. "But.. that's probably why she's so moody.. she's trying to cope with it."

"Why didn't see tell me before?" Sawyer questioned. "Why did she tell you?"

Miles shrugged. "She didn't.. technically tell me," he admitted. "I heard her talking to Amy, the day before Sayid broke out of the cell and shot Ben.." he sighed. "I asked her about it, she said.. well.." he frowned.

"She said what?" Sawyer questioned immediately.

"Well.. she said she was going to tell you the next day, I guess everything got so out of hand that.. she just never got the chance to tell you," Miles explained quietly.

Sawyer watched as her eyes met his. Suddenly everything she'd been doing, acting, it all made sense. Until this moment he didn't even know how much he'd lost to the incident at the Swan. He didn't hesitate to head over to her, ignoring the questioning looks people were throwing him as he ignored them. He grabbed her hand and led her with him down the beach, he was only a little surprised that she went with him without any objections.

Juliet allowed him to lead her down the beach away from everyone. She should have known if Miles had ever come back he would tell Sawyer. She just hadn't expected him to come back so soon and she wasn't ready to tell him. Though.. she wasn't sure she ever would have been ready to tell him.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Sawyer questioned immediately, his voice getting a little louder then he meant it to be.

Juliet opened her mouth to respond, but he wasn't sure what to say. So instead she closed her mouth and remained silent as she looked away from him.

"Juliet, look at me," Sawyer told her, trying to get some sort of eye-contact with her now. She was withdrawing, just as she had been doing over and over again since he'd gotten her back. "Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant? Why the hell would you even get off that sub if you knew you were?!"

Juliet flinched slightly in response to his words. She'd been thinking about that the entire time. She never should have gotten off the sub. Never should have agreed with Kate..

Sawyer felt his eyes soften on instinct when she flinched from his words. "Juliet.."

"I.. I don't know.." Juliet whispered in response.

Sawyer frowned and closed his eyes for a moment.

"I was going to tell you.." Juliet admitted. "I wanted to, I planned to tell you after we stopped Jack but.."

Sawyer froze. He had looked at Kate. She had changed her mind. Blow up the bomb.. never meet him.. "You wanted.."

Juliet looked away from him.

"You looked at Kate and I just thought.." she paused. "I just thought that _she_ was what you wanted.. not me.." she admitted, taking a step away from him. "And.. if I had told you.. you would have stayed, I know that.."

"So why didn't you tell me?!" Sawyer asked, getting angrier then he meant to.

"I.. just didn't want to--"

"You didn't want to tell me?" Sawyer questioned.

"No, no!" Juliet stated quickly. He had cut her off before she'd finished her statement. "James.." she muttered.

Sawyer shook his head. "You let go, you let go knowing you _and_ the baby would die!"

Juliet opened her mouth to speak but he had already turned and walked away from her. She took a second before she ran up the beach after him and grabbed his hand. "James wait.. just listen--"

"Let go.." Sawyer stated, yanking his hand from hers and heading away from her. "You never should have gotten off that sub."

"So it's all my fault?" Juliet asked him.

Sawyer dared to glance back at her. He wasn't sure what he was seeing on her face, it was blank, just like old times.. "Yeah.. if you'd stayed on the sub, none of this would have happened."

Juliet was silent now as he turned and walked away from her. She bit down on her lower lip and took a deep breath. She jumped when she felt someone's hand on her shoulder and turned to look, forgetting for a moment she might not be able to see whoever it was. And she couldn't..

"Juliet.."

Juliet knew the voice. It was Rose. "He's right.." she whispered.

Rose shook her head. "No, sweetie.. he's not right," he assured her, watching as Juliet turned to face her, or at least.. tried her best to face her. She gave the blonde props for being able to keep on her feet so much in her condition.

"Everyone heard?"

Rose was about to nod when she remembered Juliet couldn't see her. "Yes.." she admitted. "Juliet, it wasn't your fault, it was no one's fault," she told the younger woman. "He's angry, sure.. he just found out he lost a baby.." she explained.

"I lost everything.." Juliet whispered.

"No, sweetie.." Rose stated, wrapping her arms around her. "You're alive.."

Juliet shook her head. "It's not worth it.." she told Rose. "I can't.. I just can't handle all of this, I need to go back.."

"Go back?" Rose questioned immediately.

"To the Others.. Ben," Juliet told her. "If I don't.. everyone will die."

Rose stared at her in shock. "Don't you dare go back there," she warned her. "You know that's not true.."

"Yes.. it is.." Juliet told her. "I have to keep James safe.. this is the only way I know how.."

Rose watched in shock as Juliet glanced around.

Juliet listened, and heard the ocean behind her which meant one thing. Going forward would be the jungle. She glanced over and watched Sawyer disappear into the distance down the beach and frowned. This was best right? She was going to have to return to Ben to keep him safe. To keep everyone safe if her dream was true.

"Don't.." Rose told her again.

"Just.. tell him I'm sorry, and that I love him?" Juliet requested to Rose.

Rose tried to grab Juliet's hand again, but the blonde was already heading for the jungle.

Miles did the only thing he could think of. He ran after Sawyer immediately. "Jim!!" he called out. "JIM! Get back here!"

"What?" Sawyer questioned out of annoyance, watching Miles come running down the beach calling after him.

"Juliet.. she just--"

"She just what?" Sawyer questioned. Suddenly the worry hit him. He'd just blamed everything on her. "Is she okay? What happened?"

Miles frowned. "She just went off into the jungle.."

"Sonuvabitch!" Sawyer growled out running back quickly.

**~*~*~*~**

Juliet hadn't gotten far before she heard the whispers again. At least she didn't think she'd gotten very far, she couldn't be sure.

"_Run away.. run away.. you're running away."_

Juliet listened, for anything else, but the whispers were all that she could hear.

_Crack.. crack.._

"_Run.. run.. run.. they're coming for you."_

Juliet felt her heart racing. What the hell was trying to talk to her? What did it want her to do? Run? She heard the first crack beneath footsteps from behind her and she turned but she could see nothing. She glanced in all directions but it didn't help, the only thing it served was to cause her to be unsure which direction she had been going in the first place.

"Hello, Juliet.."

Juliet froze immediately, her head turning in the direction of the voice. She didn't have to see him to know who it was. It was Ben._ Taken away.. being taken away.. you're being taken away._

**()()TBC()()**

**Uh-oh.. Well.. Good news?? This was one of the longest chapters of the stories. Other good news? I'm sick, which means.. another update by tomorrow night, because I have nothing better to do! Bad news? I left another cliffhanger.. just not as literal. My bad.**


	23. Free Will

**Author's Note**: So, I tried REALLY hard to finish this chapter before my class last night, but.. I'm sure you can all tell that I failed miserably at that. So.. the goal got switched to.. 'update before I pass out' LOL. Clearly that plan failed as well. I got home.. sat down.. and was out like a light in less then five minutes. Go figure.

**All Over Again**:

"_What brings people together,_

_is not joy, but shared pain."_

Juliet had to fight her instinct of 'fight or flight'. At the moment those instincts were weighing heavily on flight, the problem was, even if she wanted to run, she didn't know where she was going anymore. She was stuck, forced to stared in the general direction from where she had heard Ben's voice. And she listened intently at the soft cracks of twigs snapping beneath his feet as he came towards her.

'_Fight or flight.. fight or flight.. it's all my fault..'_ she thought silently, nearly taking a step back as Ben stopped in front of her. She knew because she could feel the heat off his body, he was right in front of her. '_All my fault.. but I can save him, save them all.. just go with Ben and everyone's safe, I deserve to be stuck with him anyways.. right?'_

Ben stared silently into Juliet's eyes. They were empty, missing the pupils, and at first he had thought he'd imagined it. He could see now that he hadn't, and that she couldn't see him. Yet.. she knew he was there regardless. So why didn't she run away? He couldn't let her eyes effect him. "You disappointed me, Juliet.." he told her. "You turned your back on me and I can only assume it's because you remember."

Juliet felt her breath catch in the back of her throat. "Does it matter?" she questioned, finally daring to trust her own voice.

"Oh but of course it matters," Ben stated, tucking a stray piece of hair back behind her ear. He was surprised when she had absolutely no reaction to it whatsoever. "You disobeyed me, went against _me_, for some southern conman.." he told her. "The first time it was Jack, and I could understand that, he's a doctor.. but.. Ford?" he questioned. "I suppose you didn't have many choices back in the 70's though, did you?"

Juliet nearly flinched in response to the statement. That was all the proof she needed that Ben remembered everything. It wasn't as though she could deny any of it, sure, he'd been a child, but he'd clearly seen the relationship develop between herself and Sawyer. "It doesn't matter," she assured him. "He doesn't matter.." she lied.

Ben arched an eyebrow up in response to that statement. "Are you sure about that?" he asked her. He knew the answer, knew that she was lying.

A shadow of a smile flickered on her face for a brief moment. "That was the past.." she stated quietly. "Besides, he doesn't love me," she answered to him, although she stung herself by speaking those words.

"I see," Ben replied casually. "Then I suppose you have no issues killing him."

Juliet narrowed her eyes slightly in response. She nearly faltered in her expression. "I don't see how that would even work, in case you haven't noticed, I'm a bit blind."

"Come," Ben stated, taking her hand in his and leading her with him.

"Where are you taking me?" Juliet questioned out of confusion.

Ben chuckled. "Do you trust me, Juliet?" he questioned.

Juliet frowned. "Not in the slightest.."

Ben laughed now. "Still as blatantly honest as ever, I see.." he stated calmly. "I know how to fix your eyes, Juliet."

Juliet was silent now as she followed Ben. She was truthful when she told him she didn't trust him in the slightest. But now he'd piqued her curiosity. And she supposed his interest in fixing her eyes at least bought some time he would have likely spent on plotting the death of Sawyer and the other survivors. "You can't just _fix_ blindness.." she muttered.

"I can't, but I know who can," Ben assured her.

"I certainly hope you don't mean Jacob.."

Ben was silent as he glanced back at her, but he continued leading her. "No, not Jacob, what do you know about Jacob?" he questioned curiously.

Juliet paused in her reply. "He told me this was a gift."

Ben stopped short in walking. "Told? You talked to Jacob?"

Juliet was dumbfounded now. "Uh.. short cropped blonde hair.. blue eyes, decked out in white? Yes.." she stated with slight confusion.

Ben was about to speak when another voice rang out.

"I suppose you came to find me?"

Juliet frowned. That sounded like Locke's voice. "John?"

Locke chuckled. "Not exactly, Juliet.." he told her, stepping forward.

Juliet got one of those bad feelings in the pit of her stomach. Her fight or flight meter was going off-charts in the direction of flight now. "What's going on?" she questioned now, the confusion and worry evident in her voice.

"Don't worry, we're not going to hurt you Juliet," Ben assured her, giving her hand a slight squeeze. "In fact.. we want to take _away_ your pain."

Juliet opened her mouth to reject the idea when she felt a hand touch her face. There was an instant burning sensation in throughout her body and suddenly everything was coming in clear in her vision. She could see Ben and Locke in front of her. But Locke.. he didn't have the same gentleness he used to have. No.. that wasn't John Locke.

The burning sensation only grew worse and she felt the tears flooding her eyes as pain tore through her. Someone screamed, she was pretty sure it was her.

**~*~*~*~**

"What the hell was that?!" Miles questioned out of shock.

"That sounded like--" Kate was cut off.

"JULIET!" Sawyer yelled out immediately, running towards the direction of the screams.

Kate glanced at Jack and Miles for just a moment before they all followed after Sawyer quickly.

~*~*~*~

"Now look at me Juliet," Locke stated.

Juliet found she could do nothing else. She stared at him and her whole body felt as though it were on fire. Who was this guy? What the hell was going on?

"There's a man coming for you, his name is James," Locke told her quickly. "He and the people he is with are bad people, dear.." he explained. "It's kill or be killed."

Ben arched an eyebrow up. He wondered if this faux-Locke's mind game would actually work.

"Tell me what you remember."

"James.." Juliet muttered. "Love.. James.."

"Wrong!" Locke grunted out in annoyance.

Juliet let out a screech of pain and fell to her knees, holding her hands on her head.

Ben took a step away out of shock. "What are you doing to her?" he questioned immediately.

"Don't question me, don't forget, you have to follow me," Locke told Ben.

He was only met with silence.

"Now, Juliet.. what do you remember about James?"

"Kill or be killed.." came Juliet's quiet voice.

Locke smiled now. "Very good. Here he comes," he stated, grabbing Juliet's hand and pulling her back to her feet in front of himself and Ben. He was quick to whisper something else into her ear.

"What the hell are you doing to her?" Sawyer growled out quickly.

Locke grinned. "You know, she used to be so strong-willed, I was never able to break into her mindset until today," he admitted. "I guess all we needed was _you_, James, to finish completely breaking her."

Sawyer stared into Juliet's empty eyes. He saw absolutely nothing in them now, but her pupils had returned. There was no sadness, no pain, nothing. "What did you do?!"

"Well, you see James, she was in a lot of pain.." Locke explained casually. "Trust me, I saw her pain while I was erasing all of it, of course.. she blamed herself for most of that pain, believed she deserved everything that's happened to her."

Sawyer froze as he listened to Locke's words.

"Juliet, do you know him?"

Juliet finally raised her eyes to look at Sawyer. "No," she replied instantly.

"Do you know anything about him?" he questioned.

Juliet frowned now. "Bad.. going to kill me.."

Locke sighed. "How sad.." he answered. "It looks like she doesn't remember you."

"Juliet!!" Sawyer yelled instantly. "Juliet, don't give into them, look at me," he told her. She wasn't looking anymore though. She was staring at the ground. "Juliet, look at me!!"

Juliet finally glanced up and met his eyes with her own.

"I love you, I'm not gonna hurt you," he told her. "You gotta believe me.." he begged, and he watched a flicker of recognition in her eyes.

"Don't listen to those lies," Locke stated, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Juliet felt the burning pain shoot through her abdomen as she fell back down to the ground. She heard someone screaming again. Once again she was almost positive that it was her.

"Samuel! Leave her be.."

Sawyer turned immediately along with Kate, Jack and Miles. Jacob was now there and stepping in front of them.

"Interesting to see you alive again, Jacob.." Samuel stated with a grin.

"Samuel?" Kate questioned. "His name is John Locke.."

"Afraid not," Jacob assured her. "He only looks like John Locke."

Ben arched an eyebrow up immediately. "What?"

Jacob looked back at Samuel. "Let her go."

Samuel smiled in response. "Oh no, I don't think so," he answered with a shake of his head. "I'm erasing everything, pretty soon she won't even know who _she_ is anymore." He glanced over at Sawyer. "You don't mind, do you? After all, everything is her fault anyways, correct?"

Sawyer froze in response.

"Huh.. wow, she really loves you," Samuel muttered. "You really need to get over him Juliet.." he told her, squeezing her shoulder with his hand.

Sawyer went to move forward immediately as Juliet let out another ear-piercing scream. He stopped when he saw Ben intervene, pulling Juliet away from the faux-Locke's grasp. He suddenly had a new sense thankfulness towards Ben.

"What are you doing?" Samuel questioned, glancing back at Ben.

Ben stared at him, unflinching as he held Juliet up. "I asked you to help her, not hurt her," he told the man.

Samuel sighed. "Juliet, be a dear, show Ben whose side you're on."

Juliet shoved her way out of Ben's grasp and pulled the gun from the waistband of his pants. She smiled a little as she aimed it at him.

Ben froze instantly.

"Sonuvabitch, Juliet!" Sawyer growled out. "Don't do it! This isn't _you_, you would never just shoot somebody!"

No reply came from her.

"Jacob, you have your little minions with their own emotions in check, but me? I've created an emotionless warrior," Samuel stated with a smile.

Ben narrowed his eyes slightly as he caught the look in Juliet's eyes. There was definite recognition in them as he kept his eyes on hers and he had to keep himself from smiling. She was just playing along. At least, he hoped thats what he was seeing.

"Shoot him," Samuel ordered.

Juliet pulled back the safety on the gun.

"Look how easily she--"

_BANG! BANG!_

Sawyer stared in shock as Locke, Samuel, whoever it was, fell over with two gunshots in his back. He watched as Juliet's hands shook violently as she held tightly onto the gun and he didn't hesitate to go over to her. But he froze when she turned the gun on him. "Juliet--"

"Stay away from me!" she warned, taking a few steps back.

"Her memory, Samuel erased a lot of it, but he never completely finished, that's why he couldn't convince her to kill us," Jacob told them all. "Juliet, listen to me," he told her, stepping towards her slowly. "That man, he.. brainwashed you."

Juliet shook her head again. "This is all some kind of sick joke," she mumbled out, trying to will her hands to stop shaking.

Sawyer waved Jacob away. "Juliet, listen to me, I _love_ you," he told her, ignoring Ben's cold look. He glanced down at Samuel, the man was still alive, though he was definitely close to dead. "Juliet," he tried again, watching as Samuel's breathing stopped completely. He froze as she sucked in a deep breath and dropped, almost as though she'd just been hit.

"With his _death_, she got all the memories back that he'd taken from her.." Jacob explained.

Sawyer went to her side immediately, pulling the stunned blonde into his arms. "Jesus, Blondie.." he muttered out.

Juliet frowned and wrapped her arms tightly around him, burying her face in his shoulder.

There was complete silence for a moment until they heard the screeching of the smoke monster too close for comfort. By the time they both looked in the direction it was too late, it was coming their way.

Juliet sucked in a deep breath as Sawyer tried to keep her safe by covering her with himself and keeping her body tucked into his. He was the only person to ever put himself in danger for her, and sometimes she just couldn't understand why he did it.

"I love you.." he whispered to her. He watched as the monster barreled towards them. He was thinking he was ready for it as long as he kept Juliet safe.

She felt a few tears fall freely as she gripped his shirt in her fists and wrapped her arms more tightly around him. "I love you back.." she answered quietly.

Sawyer frowned and caught her lips with his own. He broke away a second later and stared at the monster. Just as he was ready to accept whatever would happen, he watched someone else stand in front of them as the smoke monster engulfed them.

**()()TBC()()**

**Oh snap.. the good news? At least the chapters are varying in length now! No more less then 2,000 word chapters. :) Bad news.. this story is almost over! Maybe..**


	24. Doppleganger

**Author's Note**: Yowza, I think I'm updating too fast for you guys to keep up? LOL. Okay, anyways.. No, I wasn't lying when I said we were nearing the end of this story! But the keyword is 'nearing'. :) There's still a bit more to go. Don't forget, Miles got here with Naomi.. which means.. uh-oh.. the freighter. Can anyone say Martin Keamy?!

**All Over Again**:

_**'**And like a baby boy, I never was a man,_

_Until I saw those blue eyes cry and held your face in my hand.'_

_**-Blue October**_

Sawyer was shocked to see it was Jacob who had stepped in front of him and Juliet. He watched in stunned silence as the man seemed to put his hand out and the smoke monster simply disappeared. "What the hell was that?" he questioned with uncertainty.

"That.. was Samuel," Jacob answered, glancing back at the two behind him. "In his.. most basic form," he explained. He glanced at Ben now. "I think it's time you let her go, don't you agree, Benjamin?"

Ben studied Jacob's intent face for only a moment before his eyes drifted downwards to look at Juliet in Sawyer's arms.

Juliet took a moment before her eyes rose to meet Ben's.

"Juliet.. come here," Ben stated, his voice calm, emotionless.

Juliet was silent for a moment as she went to pull herself out of Sawyer's arms.

"No," Sawyer stated quickly, trying to pull Juliet back to him. "Juliet, no, you don't have to go with him."

Juliet smiled a little and put her hand on the side of Sawyer's face. "It's okay," she assured him before standing up completely. She glanced at Jacob before she moved towards Ben and stood in front of him.

Ben arched an eyebrow up. "You honestly would go with me to save his life, wouldn't you?" he questioned, clearly surprised. He took her silence as his answer and nodded. He sighed, "Alright.. then go, be with him," he muttered.

Juliet stared at him in shock. "What?" she questioned with uncertainty. There was no possible way she heard him correctly.

"Did I stutter, Juliet?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow up once more at her. "I said go."

Juliet hesitated. He had to be screwing with her. "You're saying that so that you'll have a reason to kill him," she insisted, shaking her head.

"You have my word, I will _not_ kill him," he assured her. "Or any of them," he stated, gesturing his hand towards everyone behind her. He glanced at Jacob who nodded his head. "I suppose it's time I finally work out a way to send you home.."

Juliet stared at him in shock, then she froze, glancing around in confusion.

"Juliet?" Ben questioned, staring at her inquisitively.

"They're coming.." Juliet stated.

Ben was silent in response as he studied the blank look on Juliet's face.

"She means the people from the freighter," came Richard's voice as he stepped out of he shadows. "We can see the freighter from the beach."

Sawyer stood to his feet and looked at Miles for a moment who just shrugged and shook his head. He went over to Juliet. "What else do you know Juliet?" he questioned.

Juliet turned to Sawyer and met his eyes with her own. She was quiet for a moment as she thought about his question. "We're all going to die.." She glanced around at the people surrounding her. Even Jacob seemed uncertain as to what she was saying. When she met Richard's eyes however, they told a different story.

"They're already here," Richard stated, studying the look in Juliet's eyes.

Jacob had recognition in his eyes now as well. Juliet's reactions made sense to him. He stepped in front of her, between her and Sawyer now. "You've done what you can already, Juliet.." he assured her. "No need to be a martyr for a second time."

"No.." Juliet stated, shaking her head. "It's not over yet.."

Jacob frowned at her response. "Listen to me--"

"Whatever happened, happened," Juliet explained to him. "I died.. no matter what we try to change, I will always die, I'm already dead..."

Sawyer pushed his way past Jacob and put both hands on her shoulders. "That's not true," he told her. "You didn't die, remember?" he questioned. "You didn't die.." he told her a second time. "And all those people that died the last time, they're still alive too.."

"No, James.." she told him, her hand going to his cheek immediately as she smiled sadly. "They don't need to die, because all of them are already dead as well.."

"You never died," Sawyer stated once more, putting his hands on either side of her face.

Juliet was silent for a moment.

Jacob eyed her with suspicion. He stepped forward in silence and reached his hand out, about to touch her shoulder but she shrugged away just in time. "James.. step away from her."

"What?" Sawyer questioned, staring blankly at Jacob.

"Step away from her.." Jacob repeated.

"No," Sawyer replied, shaking his head.

Jacob eyed him now. "That's not Juliet."

Sawyer did back away from her now. He glanced back at Juliet, then at Jacob. "What the hell do you mean that's not Juliet?" he questioned with confusion.

Juliet simply smiled. "Don't listen to him.."

Jacob took a step back. "He initiated contact with her," he stated, staring at Sawyer and the others. "That's not Juliet, it's Samuel."

Sawyer was silent now.

"Where is she, Samuel?" Jacob questioned, staring at Juliet.

Samuel chuckled.

"She is _not_ a loophole, bring her back," Jacob demanded.

"All that pain, heartache," Samuel stated. "She's somewhere on this island," he replied with a shrug. "I suppose you guys better get along to finding her before those people from the freighter do, " he stated.

Ben's stared at him.

"Fortunately someone tipped off the freighter already that Alex isn't really your daughter, and that you're in love with Juliet," Samuel stated. "Can anyone else say uh-oh?"

Ben's eyes widened out of surprise.

Sawyer wanted to hit the son of a bitch more then anything else in the world. But he couldn't bring himself to do it when the man looked exactly like Juliet. "How the hell did you do it?" he finally asked. "How did you switch out with Juliet without us noticing?"

Samuel grinned. "That's the beauty of it. You guys were all so distracted by the smoke monster, me, when I disappeared, Juliet and I switched places. I just made sure to look exactly like her."

Sawyer stepped forward but not in enough time. Samuel had already changed back to the smoke monster and shot off out of sight. "Sonuvabitch," he growled out.

"With language like that, I'm surprised she can love you and stay with you," Ben stated, eying Sawyer with baffled annoyance.

Sawyer narrowed his eyes slightly. "Ya' know what bug-eyes--"

Jacob chuckled now.

Sawyer glanced at Jacob and shook his head. "Forget it, we need to find her now," he stated before turning to walk away. "You comin'?" he questioned, glancing back at Ben.

Ben arched an eyebrow up in response before nodding. "Of course.."

**~*~*~*~**

Juliet groaned slightly as she opened her eyes. What the hell had happened? The last thing she remembered was being in Sawyer's arm, now she was out in the middle of the jungle again. Had she somehow wandered off again without realizing it?

"James?!" she called out, glancing around. She heard and saw nobody. For a moment she was ready to say it had all been some sort of dream, falling over the cliff, running into Ben. But she could see again. It couldn't have been a dream, right?

_Crack_.

"James?" she questioned, turning around to see who had come up behind her. She didn't recognize the man. Instinctively she took a step back. "Who are you?"

"I could ask the same," he replied, glancing over the woman. "But I guess I can answer first, my name is Keamy. Martin Keamy."

Juliet frowned. She didn't recognize the name either, who was this guy? Someone who'd never been to the island before. She hesitated for a moment. "I'm Juliet.." she replied with uncertainty.

Keamy arched an eyebrow up. It shouldn't have been so easy to find Romeo's little Juliet. Yet here she was, all alone out in the middle of the jungle. "Nice to meet you," he stated.

"Juliet!!"

Juliet turned around for a moment at the sound of different voices calling out her name. She went to speak when a hand covered her mouth and an arm wrapped around her. She let out muffled calls to Sawyer, unable to break free from Keamy's grasp on her. Was this sonuvabitch on steroids?

"Get down on your knees," Keamy stated, shoving her down to the ground.

Juliet barely had a chance to react as he forced her down, the next thing she knew, there was a gun to her head.

"Start screaming," Keamy ordered.

"No," Juliet answered.

Keamy raised an eyebrow up in response. "I don't believe your in any position to disagree," he told her, pushing the barrel of the gun up against her head a little harder.

Juliet frowned slightly. "Obviously you need me for something, so you aren't going to shoot me yet," she stated. "So I guess that means I am in a position to disagree." She vaguely recalled when Miles had come after her, pointing out the fact they were looking for Ben. Was that Keamy's goal by using her? To get to Ben?

She let out a laugh now. "Oh, I see who you're looking for," she stated. "You're looking for Ben."

Keamy narrowed his eyes before pulling the woman to her feet. He turned her around to face him before lifting her up the the throat. "Very smart, so where is Ben?"

Juliet flinched and attempted to suck in air as her feet dangled over the ground. This guy had to be on something. How was she supposed to know where Ben was when she couldn't even figure out how _she_ got to this spot? "Don't.. know.." she managed to mumble out.

"Put it this way, Juliet," he stated in a low voice. "Either tell me where he is or I'll kill you."

"JULIET!!"

"Is that him?" he questioned with a smile.

"No.." Juliet huffed out. Of course she wasn't lying, that was Sawyer yelling out for her, not Ben. She got the feeling Keamy wouldn't believe her regardless. She felt his fingers loosen slightly and she was able to suck in a little more air.

Keamy just chuckled now. "Love is useless if you're not alive to enjoy it."

"Love?" Juliet questioned, staring at the man in confusion. "Now I think _you_ have things a little backwards.." she muttered. "What I feel for Benjamin Linus is _far_ from love, the exact opposite in fact.."

Keamy narrowed his eyes slightly. Something in her tone rang through as the truth to him. "Then why protect him?"

Juliet snorted out a laugh now as the man lowered her feet back down to the ground. Though he now had his gun trained back on her, at least she wasn't fighting to breath any longer. "I would throw the man under the bus if I knew where he was," she assured him. "Unfortunately for both of us.. I don't know where he is. I don't even know how _I_ got here."

Keamy arched an eyebrow up. He was fairly good at judging the truth from people. And it seemed to him like she was being completely honest. "Well, regardless, he loves you."

Juliet nearly felt her eye twitch in response. "If you call that love, I loathe to see what you call hate."

"Juliet!" cames Sawyer's voice once more, even closer.

"So who is this man?" Keamy questioned now, eying her with suspicion.

Juliet chuckled. At least she appeared to be getting somewhere with this man. She figured she'd be a bit rusty by now on talking her way out of dangerous situations, yet here she was, talking this man down. It's like they say, an old dog doesn't learn new tricks, thankfully they don't seem to forget the old tricks either. "If he's not Ben, does it truly matter who he is?"

Keamy thought about that one. "No, I suppose it doesn't," he replied. He took a moment to think over the entire conversation he'd just had with the blonde woman. Finally he narrowed his eyes at her. "Oh, you're good.." he stated with a smile. "I could grow to _like_ you."

"Excuse me?" Juliet questioned. Though she admitted his tone made her a bit more frightened then baffled.

"Strong-willed, good-looking, and _quite_ manipulative," Keamy stated with a bit of envy. "My kind of woman."

Juliet instinctively took a step back from him but she stopped herself from going further when he waved the gun a little.

"Hey!! Get away from her!" Sawyer yelled out. He'd caught a glimpse of the blonde hair as they were walking and immediately turned in her direction only to see Keamy as well. He'd never forget this guy, who shot Ben's teenage daughter who'd been perfectly harmless, had done nothing wrong.

Juliet turned immediately to see Sawyer emerge from the jungle and she was only slightly surprised he'd found her already. "James I--" she was cut off when a hand covered her mouth once more and she knew exactly why that happened. Ben had just appeared as well, along with Kate and Jack.

"Well hello, Benjamin Linus," Keamy stated with a grin. "Tell me something, does _this_ woman mean more to you then your daughter did?"

Ben remained silent in response.

Keamy glanced at Juliet's look of worry. He was pretty sure she was right. "I guess she doesn't," he said with a sigh. "Too bad, I'll regret killing her," he stated with a shrug, cocking the gun and putting it to Juliet's temple. He lowered his hand from her mouth to her neck. "Quite the woman, _very_ good at manipulating. She got me off track from you pretty easily."

Juliet narrowed her eyes. "This will probably be the most pointless reason someone's decided they're going to kill me," she muttered. "If you don't realize he wouldn't risk his own neck to save somebody else, then you don't know shit about him."

Keamy glanced at her out of curiosity.

"You could kill everyone on this island, and the only reason that would bother him is because he would run out of people to manipulate, harass and lie to."

Keamy let out a laugh. "Boy, she thinks less of you then Widmore does."

"A few years ago if you held her hostage, I'd have told you to kill her already," Ben stated. He glanced at Juliet now. He recalled Richard telling him that his wounds showed someone with very little surgery skills had attempted and helped keep him alive long enough for 'them' to save him. He realized fairly easily that regardless of what he'd done to that woman, she'd still tried to save his life as a child anyways. "But you let her go, I'll go with you." He still had the scars to prove Richard's statement.

Both Keamy and Juliet stared at him with bafflement.

"Not what I said," Keamy pointed out. "If you come with me, that means I won't kill her," he stated. "Doesn't mean I'm going to let her go."

"Why not?" Ben questioned.

"Because.." Keamy stated, running the barrel of the gun down from her temple, down her face and along her abdomen. "I think I like her."

Sawyer went to open his mouth but Ben held up a hand to shush him. He locked eyes with Juliet now, there was no way in hell he was letting this kid-killing bastard take her away from him. But the look in her eyes was the same look of hopelessness she'd had when she realized there was no way for him and Kate to save her at the Swan. Now instead of saying 'It's Okay' aloud, he was seeing the statement in her eyes.

But it wasn't okay. Not even close. Not until he heard Ben mutter something to him that Keamy didn't hear. Still.. he couldn't be sure if he heard the man right, and if he did, he wasn't sure he trusted him.

**()()TBC()()**

**Oooh.. so Ben's not so bad anymore. Or is he? We can't know for sure just yet. Had you going there for a moment that Keamy wasn't so bad, didn't I? Oops.. well. Nah, that would just make things _easy_ for Sawyer and Juliet, things can never be easy in Lost.**


End file.
